Balancing Fire
by Camucia
Summary: Sparks - and fire - fly as a mage and shaman must work together to stealthily deliver a critical package in the aftermath of the Cataclysm. Dark family histories and a twisted student/teacher relationship only make their journey more...  Intriguing...
1. Cortona Gets the Hell Out of Undercity

DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

Author's Note: I'm only going to post these first three chapters for now; if I get enough reviews, I'll post the rest; probably one chapter every three days or so. Definitely rated a hard "M" for later chapters (chapter 7 and beyond, if you must know...)

**The One Where Cortona Gets the Hell Out of Undercity**

Primly perched on an edge of the dock, a blood elf jiggled her foot nervously.

Her auburn hair was in disarray, her olive skin prickled with goose bumps, and she shook with shivers, despite the fact that the air was relatively warm and calm for an early fall day in Tirisfal. While she would usually conjure some fire to warm herself by, her hands were currently occupied. Tucked firmly into the inside pockets of her traveling cloak, her clammy fingers gripped a dagger and a small packet of papers.

_Why is the zeppelin taking so long? What's the holdup?_ She released the dagger for a moment, just long enough to check her bag for her reagents. Good, the feathers were still there. Teetering on the edge of a zeppelin dock was not usually advised, but she had to be ready to jump at the slightest sign of trouble - and without those feathers, that trip down would be a lot faster than Cortona's ability to teleport.

She trembled with chills; Cortona DeVasari hadn't felt this kind of cold-to-the-bone since she left the Storm Peaks - but these shivers weren't brought on by icy winds. The source of Cortona's chills came directly from the crisp stack of papers clutched in her white-knuckled hand.

_Traitors, all of them, _she fumed. It had been fourteen months of her life, but the time she spent observing – well, spying on - the Royal Apothecary Society had finally paid off, and her worst fears were confirmed: Lady Sylvannas, and nearly the entire Forsaken population were planning to wipe out as much of the living population as they could, regardless of faction. Of course, this had been suspected for ages, but no one had ever been able to gather any hard evidence to disprove the rumors – until Cortona was hired.

Cortona DeVasari was unusually tall and clumsy for a blood elf, so she had adapted over many years to be very aware of her surroundings, and she also gained the ability to be absolutely overlooked. Not _invisible_, she wasn't a rogue; she was simply a nondescript, lithe mage who clung to the wall, kept her nose in a book, and tried not to step on any toes.

Amazingly, it was these very qualities that singled her out two years ago, when Vol'Jin himself propositioned her with the spying job. She had briefly taken over as alchemy instructor in Vengeance Landing in the Howling Fjord, but most of her job consisted of lurking in the shadows and keeping an eye on arguments in case they got out of control (which they usually did). One day, after dispelling a fight that ended with no less than three Forsaken and two orcs turned into frozen sheep, a troll nearly as unnoticeable as Cortona slipped her a letter of proposal, and left the inn. Upon reading the note, Cortona was astonished to find that the troll it came from was Vol'Jin. The job proposed was supposed to just be a simple observation stint in the Royal Apothecary Society – Cortona was an expert alchemist, and the recent controversies with the Forsaken forced the Royal Apothecary Society to take on non-Undead members if they wished to remain within the Horde. So far, the Society had only taken on blood elves, and Cortona didn't have any major ties to Orgrimmar that would make them suspect her. Cortona would be working with them, but sending in notes of their activities to non-Forsaken intelligence officers in the Horde.

While Cortona witnessed unspeakable atrocities being committed to various beings in the name of science, technically nothing extraordinary or completely out of line was taking place. But she always sensed that there was something happening that she wasn't being let in on; supplies that were bought and then seemingly disappeared, acrid fumes leaking out from behind apparent walls, captive test experiments whose bodies were never sent out for burning.

Then, one day, someone slipped up. A research assistant distractedly handed Cortona a pile of papers, asking that they be delivered to a doctor whose name Cortona had never heard. The assistant was either that preoccupied, or Cortona had gained more trust than she realized – after all, she was completely forgettable, unlike the other boisterous blood elves. She did what she had been doing to all of the transmissions she had handled before – used some very precise fire magic to sear off the bottom of the wax seal across the papers without singeing the papers themselves.

Opening up the first of the papers, she expected to see the kind of notes she usually saw – _"Tests 478318-478363 unsuccessful, more specimens needed", "Zangarmarsh Herbology List,"_ or even the occasional _"Ask so-and-so if they're available tonight. Don't tell them my jaw fell off again."_

Stuck to a thick, nice paper letter was a small note that read "SIGN AND DELIVER BEFORE TOMORROW," which wasn't unusual. What was out of the ordinary was the content of the parchment letter; it was what Cortona had been afraid of discovering for over a year:

_Most Gracious Lady Sylvanas,_

_We have used the extra time you so generously allotted us in a most fruitful manner – Formula 49651C has proved consistently successful on every form of sentient being tested. _

_Points of dispersion in Thunder Bluff, Darnassus, the Deeprun Tram, and the Exodar are ready for immediate distribution. Additional time may be needed on Silvermoon City and Orgrimmar, as recent reconstruction efforts have significantly altered the walls of both cities, and we are unsure of Formula 49651's stability through teleportation via the crystal to Silvermoon. Optional points of dispersion are still being established in Booty Bay, Dalaran, and Gilneas._

_We are still waiting for confirmation from Lord Varimathras as to a dispersion point in Shattrath._

_Your faithful servants,_

_Master Apothecary Faranell_

_X __

It took every ounce of self-control Cortona had to not immediately run, screaming, from Undercity. Knowing she wouldn't be able to leave discreetly if she took all of her belongings, she instead chose her largest, heaviest traveling cloak and bag to pack as full as she could. Walking quickly and with a purpose, she answered the only two inquiries she received with a vague "Someone contaminated the moonwell water again, off to Ashenvale…" no one questioned her – retrieving moonwell water was not a desirable job.

And so there she sat, leaning precariously far forward on the zeppelin tower platform, anxiously anticipating its arrival.

"Folks, the 'ol zepp should be here any minute now, please clear the loading dock so the departures can get off. That includes you, sweetcheeks." A goblin shouted in Cortona's direction.

Sure enough, the zeppelin came bursting through Tirisfal's perpetually cloudy sky, slowly lining up with the platform. A whole rabble of orcs, trolls, and tauren filed off the zeppelin; Cortona only wished she could warn them discreetly of the eminent danger, but that wasn't an option. As soon as the last troll slowly ambled off, she darted on to the zeppelin, choosing to lean right against the rail, ready to jump at the first sign of trouble.

Fortunately, the zeppelin was packed; someone would have a hard time trying to find her on here, let alone kill her without people noticing. As soon as the zeppelin started drifting away from the platform, Cortona allowed herself to exhale for what felt like the first time since she read that fateful letter.

She had to get her plan together; fortunately, it wasn't much of a walk to Orgrimmar, but that didn't mean it wasn't risky. Running was an option, but Cortona figured that the less attention she drew to herself, the better. Perhaps she could get a guard to escort her; after all, she would have to pass through some fairly shady sections of the city to get to the intelligence agency. Could word of her betrayal even traveled faster than her? Probably. The only reason Cortona hadn't teleported was out of risk of teleporting herself right on top a knife in her back – she had ported enough members of the Royal Apothecary Society to Orgrimmar that they knew exactly where her particular portal signature dumped out. It was going to be risky, not to mention the reaction from the orcs once they heard about this-

_CRACK!_


	2. The One With the Worgen Problem

DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

Author's Note: I'm only going to post these first three chapters for now; if I get enough reviews, I'll post the rest; probably one chapter every three days or so. Definitely rated a hard "M" for later chapters (chapter 7 and beyond, if you must know...)

LAST TIME:

_The only reason Cortona hadn't teleported was out of risk of teleporting herself right on top a knife in her back – she had ported enough members of the Royal Apothecary Society to Orgrimmar that they knew exactly where her particular portal signature dumped out. It was going to be risky, not to mention the reaction from the orcs once they heard about this-_

_CRACK!_

**The One With The Worgen Problem**

Cortona whipped her head around fast enough for her hair to smack her face. A huge fault, which was rapidly leaking steam, was running through the burner that kept the zeppelin afloat, and the reason why was obvious – the flame was easily ten times its normal size and spreading, causing the zeppelin to rise at an alarmingly fast rate.

"Shamans, mages, warlocks; heck, priests, we could use some help here, someone sabotaged the burner!"

Goblins were dashing around, desperately trying to control the flame, both by mechanical and magic means. Pushing through the horrified crowd of helpless warriors and hunters with a surprising amount of force for an elf, Cortona drew the excess fire to herself, condensing it into a single, powerful fireball in her hand.

The fire was normal-sized again, but now the zeppelin was sinking like a corpse dumped in water. It was immediately apparent why – the heat of the fire had been so great that it burned a massive hole through the thin material that made up the zeppelin's balloon.

"Clear away from the ropes, stern, and edges, folks, we've got this under control!"

Surprisingly enough, the goblins expertly handled the rapidly sinking craft; it appeared that, while a massive fire was an emergency, dealing with a hole was positively commonplace. The zeppelin was headed directly for a relatively flat area in the mountains just south of the Sepulcher.

Panic began to fill Cortona again; while the accident could have been purely chance, it was entirely likely that someone was trying to kill her – and clearly, they weren't too bothered with burning up 40 other members of the Horde. She considered the massive ball of fire still in her hand. There was enough energy there that she could easily blast away any potential attackers (along with half of the remaining zeppelin), but it would start growing unstable at any second.

_No point in taking any risks_, _I guess_. Her face a mask of concentration, she dispersed, then refocused the energy in her hand into a feather she drew from her backpack. She hopped up on a railing –

"Lady, we'll have this thing down any second, and have an escort back up to Undercity, if you'll just sit your ass down and don't-"

She jumped.

Throwing the feather down, Cortona cast a protective bubble around herself, and gravity slowed just enough to give her a safe landing. She had aimed herself southeast toward the distant road, and was quickly re-forming a plan in her head. Perhaps if she went via the zeppelin to Stranglethorn, then sailed to Ratchet and traveled to Orgrimmar from there; nobody would think to look for her there…

She touched down on the mountainside, ever wary of her surroundings. If her assassin was on that zeppelin, they very well could be right behind her, although their exit probably wasn't quite as dramatic. Longing for her talbuk (comfortably stabled in Thunder Bluff), Cortona trudged through weeds and knee-high vegetation at a less-than-quick pace. All of that high-risk magic left her tired, and she didn't want to expend energy moving that she would probably need for fighting.

Just as she was growing concerned about her proximity to Shadowfang Keep, Cortona's long ears pricked at the sound of whispered conversation. Her Common wasn't the greatest, but fortunately, these voices weren't exactly using complex words.

"Just an elf… Big one, though."

"Be quiet, it's going to hear you."

"Who cares? If it's out here by itself, it can't be too powerful. Or too smart. It isn't even mounted up."

"Look at that cloak, though, she's got money."

"Signal the others, we'll take it down."

Cortona wasn't concerned. Most of the worgen outside the Keep were a bunch of third-rate muggers that she could take out in her sleep. Walking, she pretended she hadn't heard them, but inwardly concentrated on having a blast of fire ready.

Five scruffy, half-transformed worgen burst from the woods, snarling and drooling, trying to put on an impressive display. Immediately, Cortona crouched and lashed out with a huge wave of fire, startling and burning them. Two started to run, but she rooted all of them to the ground with ice, and teleported right up behind one of the runners, a druid, and held a palm full of fire at his neck.

"I'm sorry, did you mean to do that there, little guy?" she taunted with a hushed whisper directly in his ear.

The worgen had the nerve to snarl at her, which irritated Cortona. She felt his own magic rising to the surface of his skin, which was never a good sign. Temptation rose up in her; she wasn't really _supposed_ to anymore, it only made her powerful now and tired later, but it was _so _easy and available... Hypnotized, she lightly traced her fingers down the druid's spine, spanned her palm across the small of his back, and _pulled_.

A blood-curdling scream issued from the worgen, and his compatriots looked on, horrified. Cortona's eyes glowed an even more brilliant green as she drew out as much of the creature's magic as she could take. The worgen dropped to the ground, shivering and depleted; she felt more energized than she had in ages. She focused some of this new, feral energy, and blasted it out all around her as a massive explosion of fire. Ashes were all that remained of four of the worgen, and the fifth, badly burned, managed to flee his icy trap.

Cortona felt like she was on fire herself, and filled to the brim with mana. She found herself recklessly wishing that her would-be assassins from the zeppelin would show up now; they wouldn't stand a chance.

A resounding howl erupted suddenly from behind Cortona. Instinct controlled her as she vanished and reappeared behind this new attacker. She had to take a couple steps back and analyze this situation – this was no normal worgen. It was massive and powerful, and made her think more of a berserker troll than any kind of wolf; what was he doing outside the Keep?

Still exuding confidence, Cortona finally drew her dagger, using it to concentrate her power. She moved to sink it deep in the hind haunch of this new threat, but the worgen whipped around to face her, nearly throwing Cortona to the ground.

_No worries_, thought Cortona. _ Big means stupid._

The thing swiped out at Cortona with surprising speed; she easily dodged it, but stumbled over the hem of her cloak. Her top priority was still keeping the letters safe, so she knew she had to be careful about just how much fire she was throwing around. She hurled a wave of arcane energy at the worgen, just to shock it, then began building up a firebomb. The beast seemed startled, but not hurt, and just as it was shaking off the arcane energy, Cortona launched her now-huge fireball. Knocked down, the worgen seemed to sustain little damage, but Cortona focused hard, drawing ice up from the ground to try to encase the animal's body.

The worgen was having no part of that. He immediately rose, shaking off the shards of ice as if it was water, tipped his head to the sky, and howled.

_Oh, that's not good._

Almost immediately, the howl was returned, and Cortona saw ordinary wolves and worgen alike emerging all around her, growling and snarling.

Another pair of intelligent canine eyes watched on, interested.


	3. The One With the Earthquake Problem

DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

Author's Note: I'm only going to post these first three chapters for now; if I get enough reviews, I'll post the rest; probably one chapter every three days or so. Definitely rated a hard "M" for later chapters (chapter 7 and beyond, if you must know...)

LAST TIME:

_Knocked down, the worgen seemed to sustain little damage, but Cortona focused hard, drawing ice up from the ground to try to encase the animal's body._

_The worgen was having no part of that. He immediately rose, shaking off the shards of ice as if it was water, tipped his head to the sky, and howled. _

_Oh, that's not good._

_Almost immediately, the howl was returned, and Cortona saw ordinary wolves and worgen alike emerging all around her, growling and snarling._

_Another pair of intelligent canine eyes watched on, interested._

**The One With the Earthquake Problem**

Cortona sheathed her dagger; she needed a new plan. Looking to the razor sharp shards of conjured ice still surrounding the largest worgen, she summoned the ice back to her, and immediately began pulling more from the air around her. Once she had a massive concentration of ice in her palm, she unleashed it as a blizzard all around her to at least give her some cover. Eliminating the weakest worgen and wolves was her first priority; after all, enough of them could take her down. She foresaw a problem, though – she was running through mana, and fast. But she had to stand and fight; she started throwing fire as fast and accurately as she could.

There were ten worgen and wolves she knocked off pretty easily, but dispatching the weaklings was tiring. Now Cortona, exhausted, was left with three fairly powerful worgen, three wolves, and the grossly huge worgen, all of them slowly surrounding her with her back to a massive oak. She teleported up to the branches of the tree, hoping to buy herself some time and regenerate some mana. The wolves immediately pursued her, slamming their huge bodies into the tree, hoping to knock her down.

Suddenly, one of the wolves was tackled to the grown by a white blur that proceeded to savagely rip at the throat of the downed wolf. The pack turned to face this new threat, scenting a strange white wolf, which was now driving them away from Cortona's tree. The two remaining wolves launched themselves at this outsider, but the white wolf had disappeared.

Cortona squinted to see what was happening – while grateful for the intervention, this newcomer could be a bigger threat to her than the wolves. In place of the wolf was a bluish figure in ornate set of armor, grasping two powerful-looking maces, and sporting a shock of bright red hair. Relaxing a hair, she prepared to land – Cortona highly doubted that the Royal Apothecary Society would send a troll shaman to kill her.

Lightning crackled around the troll's fists, and four totems rose around his feet. He crouched, waiting for his opponents to make a move. One worgen began to run, and the troll immediately responded with a mere move of his foot that caused a fault to form right beneath the worgen, making him fall. Pursuit was unnecessary – a mere swift swing of a mace caused a jet of lava to rise from a fault in the ground, eliminating the runner. The remaining pack banded together, and attacked the troll as one.

The fight became a catastrophic blur; Cortona completely lost track of what was happening. Using her second-to-last feather to quietly drop to the ground, she started charging up another fire blast, ready to assist her savior if necessary.

A wolf came flying out of the fray of ice, lightning, and fire, propelled by a shear of wind straight into – and nearly through - the tree Cortona had just left. Hearing more barking than three canines could possibly make, Cortona worried about the arrival of even more wolves, but was relieved to see the last worgen being chased off by the shaman's summoned spirit wolves. All that remained now was one last, tenacious wolf, and the giant monstrosity of a worgen. The troll moved to strike the largest one with lightning, and Cortona saw the other wolf move at a blinding speed toward the shaman's ankles – she reacted with fire.

"Not now, elf!" shouted the troll as he dispersed Cortona's fire like it meant nothing, and retaliated against the wolf with a single knock back blow from his largest mace.

Suddenly, the worgen and wolf cowered, crouching low to the ground and whimpering. The land was shaking more powerfully than Cortona had ever felt from a shaman, and huge faults were splintering and cracking across the ground. The canines sprinted for the shore, baying, and the quaking got worse.

"Many thanks, shaman, but you can stop showing off now." Cortona had to shout above the rumble of earth moving.

"Dat's not me, anymore, elf." The troll turned to face her, looking irritated "I told you not to interfere, and dat fire you were working with wasn't normal!"

"What, you think _I _did this? Are you kidding me?"

"It had to be! " The troll gestured emphatically toward one of the rapidly expanding fissures in the ground.

Red, unnatural fire, unlike anything Cortona had ever seen, was rising fast from the fault through the earth. The earth shook more and more, but it wasn't just the ground where they were standing anymore.

"Th-that… That's not me… Look!" Cortona screamed

Massive splits in the ground were springing up all over the mountains, and heavy black smoke was rising from the south, rapidly approaching where Cortona and the shaman stood. The earth shook more and more, and an unholy roar echoed from somewhere in the distance, growing louder as it went on.

"'Dis isn't normal, elf." The troll looked around quickly. "You're a mage, yes?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Den open a portal! Orgrimmar, T'under Bluff, anywhere but here!" He threw up his arms.

"Oh- ok." Cortona focused as much as she could on Thunder Bluff, reaching for her portal location, but something was off. Deafening cracks could be heard as the bedrock split, Cortona kept reaching for a portal, _any _portal…

"Hurry up!"

"I'm trying!" She screamed, panicked. "Something's wrong with the LaGrange point, it's like it's moving… We could end up in a wall or something!"

"Well try somewhere else!"

"I HAVE BEEN!" Cortona nearly sobbed. "_Everything_ is moving, it's not just here!"

A huge eruption of lava burst from a fault right next to the shaman, who managed to bend it away from where he and Cortona stood, but hairline faults were expanding and growing right under their feet as well. Piercingly loud, smoke screamed up from the fissures, clouding the air and adding to the chaos; magma was now visible between the rapidly growing cracks.

"JUST GET US SOMEWHERE! I DON' CARE IF WE END UP IN IRONFORGE, ANYWHERE IS BETTER 'DEN HERE!" The troll shouted.

Unfocused, Cortona used very near the end of her mana, and threw up a portal that seemed relatively stable, although it was difficult to tell with her own legs trembling so much. She coughed weakly; her lungs were filled with smoke.

The huge roar echoed again, and a massive, black, flaming…. _Thing_… Was briefly visible as it flew through the now-black clouds. A wall of fire was falling from the sky; Cortona could already feel the heat-

"Unf!" she squeaked as she was yanked out of her mesmerized staring. The troll had one foot through the portal, and one arm cinched around Cortona's waist, easily hauling her after him.

"I sure hope you know where you sent us!"

Cortona only had a moment to gulp nervously before her body was yanked through the swirling blue portal.

_If you want more, please leave reviews!_


	4. The One Where Everyone Argues

DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

Author's Note: Thank you SO much for the reviews! As promised, here's the next chapter of Balancing Fire, but keep those reviews coming, so I know if I need to change anything!

LAST TIME:

_The troll had one foot through the portal, and one arm cinched around Cortona's waist, easily hauling her after him._

"_I sure hope you know where you sent us!"_

_Cortona only had a moment to gulp nervously before her body was yanked through the swirling blue portal._

**The One Where Everyone Argues**

The air was clear, warm, and bright – and completely surrounding Cortona and the shaman.

"_Where de hell did we end up?_" The troll demanded over the rushing howl of wind passing over them as they fell, keeping his grip tight on Cortona's waist. The ground below them was rapidly approaching.

Thinking as fast as she could, Cortona held her bag and cloak tight to her, hoping against hope that nothing fell out. She groped in her pocket, panicked, hoping for one last-

"Hold on!" She yelled, and used her last feather to slow gravity once again, pouring her mana into it, hoping that using more mana might allow the spell to be used on a heavier load of people.

Thankfully, their combined rate of falling slowed a little, but not enough to make a landing without breaking a significant number of bones.

"Aim for that island!"

"What?" The troll sounded bewildered. Cortona couldn't risk letting go of her bag and cloak to try to "steer" their fall, so opted to point.

"Over there! Lean toward that floating island with the water!"

The troll apparently got the message, and as the island approached, they grew closer and closer – but not close enough. Cortona could already tell from experience that they weren't quite going to make it, and she had to do something fast. Her mana was nearly depleted; this was going to hurt. She squinted her eyes, and braced for impact.

WHUMPH.

Cortona nearly fainted. She did it. She managed to teleport both of them from midair to the safety of the floating island – but at the cost of completely draining her mana, and what felt like a few years of her life. Absolutely exhausted and freezing cold, she could not move herself from her surprisingly soft landing pad, but the ground itself didn't seem to want to accommodate her.

"Get up elf, you're not hurt… Where are – oh no…" Cortona felt a large hand pry open her eyelid as the troll's voice shifted from indignant to guilty.

While Cortona couldn't see or even _feel_ much, except that her spine was at a rather unnatural angle. The troll rolled her off of his chest, and set her on the ground as gently as he could. A warm, pleasant sensation washed over Cortona, starting off in her fingertips and toes, and slowly moving inward. She felt restful as the warmth slowly spread across her body, and completely lost consciousness. As soon as it reached her chest though, she became cold, and was uncomfortably roused from her rest. Something was nagging at her mind; she had to do something really important, but for now she just wanted to sleep...

Gasping, Cortona sat upright, and patted at her chest.

"Cloak… Cloak?" she gasped, groping around wildly.

"Woah! Slow down, leetle elf. You lookin' for this?"

Tunnel vision. Cortona didn't even see the troll, just his outstretched hand grasping her cloak, which she snatched up. Beads of cold sweat drizzled down Cortona's brow as she desperately searched the cloak. Her breathing and heartbeat accelerated faster and faster; no papers!

"Where is it? What did you do with it? Why did-" Cortona stared at the troll accusingly, actually registering his presence for the first time.

Holding up his hand to silence her, the troll's blue face was the picture of calm. "Elf. You gonna pass back out if you keep dis up. Dese were in your hand, I took dem away because you were sweatin' so bad, I tink you were about to make de ink run." The troll proffered the now-tattered looking papers, which Cortona reached for.

"No, no, no. Not 'til I get a name, and some explanation." He held the papers well above Cortona's feeble arms.

Too exhausted, she wanted to scream; but the sight of the papers calmed her somewhat. "Explanation? For what?"

"Nearly gettin' us killed. Damn near killin' yourself gettin' us here."

Cortona felt indignant rage. "_Me? _This is somehow_ my_ fault? _You're_ the one who was getting all fancy controlling earthquakes that probably started this whole mess!"

"Dat earthquake was no doin' of mine. Unlike you, I _channel_ elements, I don' presume to _control _sometin'."

"Whatever, I'm too tired to get in a philosophical magic argument right now. My point is that I saved _your _ass, so _I _should be the one asking questions here."

"Right, because you were just _fine_ back dere with de worgen, and just now wit' a broken spine. And I was _clearly_ incapable of deflectin' de lava until it hardened."

"Yeah, right. Who sent you?" Cortona snapped with surprising vigor.

The troll narrowed his eyes. "No one. I acted out of kindness, clearly someting you could learn a bit about." He scrutinized her. "Lie back down, elf, you gettin' yourself all worked up; you never gonna heal dat way."

Cortona was incredulous. "There's no way someone like you would just happen to be in the middle of nowhere without good reason. Explain yourself."

"You want de whole story? Fine. I represent de Earthen Ring's interests to de Horde, and I was sent to investigate some unusual activity and tings around de Molten Core. I had to travel on foot to avoid suspicion-"

"Yeah, because that getup you've got on clearly screams that you're just a humble adventurer." Muttered Cortona.

"Can I continue? I was on my way back to report my findings to de Lady Sylvanas-"

Gasping raggedly, Cortona rapidly backed away. "They did send you, I knew it; I just _knew_ it…" She had nowhere to go, and no way she could take down a healthy – and undeniably larger and more skilled - shaman; her best bet was to jump and hope she hit water, but that would make the papers unreadable…

"Look, I don' know what you talkin' about, but if you keep movin'-" he reached toward her.

Cortona didn't know what came over her, but something about her weakened body and total lack of mana made her panic. She yanked his outstretched arm, grasping his wrist with both hands; her eyes, which had been faint and dull since she collapsed, glowed in anticipation of the mana she would soon have-

A half breath later, Cortona found herself awkwardly pinned against the island's only tree, being held up in the air by her own wrists. Abashed, her face reddened, and she purposely stared at her feet.

There was a long moment of awkward silence, and Cortona could only hear the troll's breathing. She chanced a sideways glance up to his face, and immediately looked away. His eyes were tinged with red around the edges, and he looked positively feral. A single finger slowly traced from Cortona's down turned chin to her neck, where her pulse was beating erratically. Feeling hot tears welling up, Cortona sunk her head completely, and started rapidly babbling.

"I'm so sorry, please forgive me, it's just… I've had a _really_ rough day, I'm pretty sure the next Forsaken I see is going to murder me, I thought _you _were going to murder me, now I think you're just going to eat me, I have to get out of here, I need to get these papers to Orgrimmar as soon as possible, or something terrible is going to happen-"

Just as before, the troll held up his spare hand to ask for silence, but his face was less than calm.

"Look, I shouldn't have been dat violent jus' now, but you takin' my mana would have been… Risky, at de least. Without balance of de elements, your body would have favored one element, and de results would have been, well, less den favorably to your dignity. If I let you down, promise me you won' try dat again."

Cortona nodded as vigorously as she could for someone who had basically been comatose only seconds beforehand.

"All right, I'll let you down- wait, dis is all wrong…" the troll carefully lowered Cortona, making sure not to scratch her back on the rough bark of the tree.

"We got off on de wrong foot." Extending his hand once more down to Cortona, the troll locked eyes with her, and cleared his throat almost comically, enunciating his language as sharply as he could. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, miss. Satya Dal'Jin, Earthen Ring Ambassador to the Horde, at your service, Lady…?"

"Cortona DeVasari, Horde Emissary to the Royal Apotheca- um, well, just Cortona DeVasari, I suppose." Cortona grasped his hand in a firm shake, blushing.

"Now den, Lady DeVasari, after what you been puttin' me t'ru today, I tink I'm owed an explanation." Satya's normal accent returned with a vengeance.

"It's… complicated…" Reaching to rub her aching sides, Cortona shuddered as her body went cold again.

Rather abruptly, Satya sat below the tree, and gestured toward the ground next to him. "I'll fix de rest of your broken ribs while you tell me."

Not in any position to refuse free healing that she would be completely unable to perform herself, Cortona gratefully sank down on to the grass in front of Satya, truly looking around for the first time. They were on a beautiful floating island, complete with its own tree and waterfall – and very, very high in the air.

"Did I end up putting us in… Nagrand?"

"It certainly looks dat way. We're pretty high up here, but dat-" Satya gestured toward a large, green-tinged totem, pulsing with power. "Should sink dis island low enough dat we can get off here in a couple of days."

"A couple of _days_?"


	5. The One Where Satya Takes Charge

DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

Author's Note: Loving the reviews! I'll probably update again on Thursday, since we're cutting through some dry exposition – but juicy setup (trust me).

LAST TIME:

"_Did I end up putting us in… Nagrand?"_

"_It certainly looks dat way. We're pretty high up here, but dat-" Satya gestured toward a large, green-tinged totem, pulsing with power. "Should sink dis island low enough dat we can get off here in a couple of days."_

"_A couple of days?"_

**The One Where Satya Takes Charge**

"A couple of _days_?" Cortona fumed. "But it could be too late by then! We'll have to figure out some other way!"

"Look, I'm not too happy wit' it either, but look." Satya procured both his and Cortona's hearthstones, along with her teleportation runestones, all of which were lacking their usual glow of magic. "All of dem useless. Everythin' back on Azeroth shifted too much for us to use dem. Now turn around, and tell me what bee you got in your bonnet."

Puzzled by the metaphor, Cortona considered Satya for a moment, and then scooted on the ground to face away from him. She wasn't even angry with him for apparently rifling through her possessions; the zen-like calm that surrounded him was contagious.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you everything; everyone's going to find out eventu-_oh_…" Cortona sighed as Satya gently ran his hands down her spine, feeling bones slowly mending as he went.

"Don' mind me, go on…"

"Well… About a year ago, right after the Wrathgate incident and the revolt in Undercity, I was offered an observation job within the Royal Apothecary Society by Vol'Jin, since he wanted to keep tabs on what they were doing. I've been there for much longer than I wanted to be, especially since they seemed to be keeping their business relatively clean, but today…" Cortona shuddered.

"Dis happened?" Satya procured the stack of papers, still intact.

"You read it; I can't bring myself to look at it again."

Missing the presence of his hands already, Cortona heard Satya unfold the letter. A hushed moment of reading and re-reading; Cortona could practically feel Satya burning with rage behind her, but then he followed up with a slow, calm exhale.

"It's nothin' we didn' already suspect, but to actually see it written…" Satya tucked the papers back into his cloak, and resumed healing Cortona's back. "So what did you do after you read it?"

"Ran, obviously. I didn't want to port, because I delayed long enough that they could have had someone waiting for me. I tried to take the zeppelin to Orgrimmar, but someone sabotaged the engine, and I ended up walking- well, and that's where you came in, basically- OW!" Cortona felt her spine shift back into place, and the last of her ribs mend.

"Sorry, but dat should just about cover it, Lady-"

"Please, call me Cortona; I haven't been Lady anyone since I was a debutante a lifetime ago… By the way, how did you not break any bones?" Cortona turned to face Satya.

"Troll, remember?" Satya smiled as he stood, which made Cortona see him as though for the first time.

Lanky, but undoubtedly powerful looking, his fire-red hair was gathered loosely in braids down his back, and it contrasted greatly against his pronouncedly blue skin. Large, dangerous-looking tusks swept wide away from his somewhat demonic grin. Unlike many trolls, his white tattoos not only covered his face, but seemed to trace down what Cortona could see of his arms and hands as well – she found herself wanting to touch them, and see where else they were.

Cortona made a move to stand as well, but was almost immediately pushed back down to the ground from a hand to the shoulder.

"No, no, little elf, you need rest after what you been t'ru. I'll be over here; if you don' mind, I'll be communin' wit' de Earthen Ring."

Leaning against the tree, Cortona looked puzzled. "And just how, exactly, do you plan on doing that?"

Satya moved to the sun and sat cross-legged, still grinning. "Astral projection. Can't do much to get us off here, but doesn' mean we can't find out what's goin' on."

"Are you going to tell them about-"

"If you don' mind, I would like to, but I have a feelin' we're goin' to have some bigger fish to fry first. You sleep. Now if you'll pardon me…"

Palms upward, Satya breathed deeply with his eyes shut. Cortona watched, interested, but felt her own eyelids growing heavy. She curled up within her cloak like a cat, still watching.

"Oh!" Cortona gasped as Satya suddenly looked up, eyes totally white and glowing. Evidently, he had found whomever he needed to talk to. She wanted to keep watching, but she was so tired, and the sun was warm and comforting…

* * *

A cool breeze, a warm hand patting her shoulder. Cortona curled tighter into a ball, sleepily ignoring everything around her.

"Come on, leetle elf. You need to eat somethin' den you can go back to sleep."

The strange voice woke her with a start – then everything came back to her. Vision hazy, Cortona could see that it was dark outside now; a small fire directly behind Cortona illuminated Satya, who crouched in front of her, his face grim in the flashing light. Evidently, whatever he heard from the Earthen Ring was not good news.

It was extremely difficult waking up; teleporting took more out of Cortona than she realized. Somehow, she had rolled away from the tree in her sleep, which was worrisome, considering that she could have very well rolled off the island. But what was especially disturbing was that she was still completely bereft of mana; typically, a good amount of sleep would totally restore her.

"Dere's some windroc on de fire, should be cooked by now." Satya gestured toward the fire, watching Cortona with almost clinical detachment.

Cortona attempted to stand, and almost immediately found herself staring at the sky – she had fallen right back down. Her head was spinning and throbbing, and she felt numb. Satya's face appeared in her peripheral vision, looking amazingly unsurprised.

"I was afraid dis would happen…" Cortona felt herself hauled up, and in a sickeningly blurry and fast motion, Satya placed her at the bottom of the island's tree. Feeling completely drunk with motion sickness, Cortona tried to concentrate on a single star, or a single blade of grass, but her vision just kept slipping.

"Is it just me… Or is everything kind of spinny?" she squinted into the darkness, unable to see more than a couple feet in front of her. She had been in Nagrand before; the night sky of Outland was usually as bright as day with the vast number of stars and moons, yet Cortona couldn't see much further than her own feet.

"I don' know what exactly you did, but you used all of your mana getting us here, and den some, which is not good for leet'l blood elves." Cortona couldn't see Satya, but could hear him approaching her, then come to a halt. "You tapped one, didn' you? One of de worgen druids."

Squinting, trying to remember, Cortona suddenly realized "Well, yeah, he was about to cast and I needed to stop him-"

"Dere's why. You be a mage, you can't tap dat kind of energy, you don' know what it's gonna do to you. And den to go an use all of it…"

Cortona rubbed her temples, utterly confused. "What? Back before the new Sunwell, I used to tap druids and shamans all the time, and I was fine!"

"Yes, because de blood elves were _really_ on top of tings back den, weren' dey?" Satya crouched in front of Cortona, giving her a critical gaze. "You all were tapping everyting all de time, so your bodies were used to it. I bet you haven't tapped someting in a few years now, let alone someting as feral and wild as worgen. Your body didn' know what hit it to start wit', den you went and used all dat mana doin' some very powerful – and risky magic."

"But-"

A piece of windroc wing hovered into Cortona's limited scope of vision. "Here. Eat, and rest. Maybe your body will recover better wit' a full stomach."

"I'm not even hungry!"

"I don' care, I'm not havin' you dyin' on my watch."

"Fine!" Cortona grabbed the wing feebly, yet ripped a piece of flesh off savagely, and gulped it down. "Happy?"

"Yes."

"Thank you."

"Eh?"

"For saving my life." Cortona would have blushed if her face weren't so drained of color.

"Well thank you for saving mine, miss Cortona."


	6. The One With the Philosophy Lesson

DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

Author's Note: Keep the reviews coming! I promise that the next chapter will be a whole lot longer than what I've done so far – and very, very M. Seriously.

LAST TIME:

"_Fine!" Cortona grabbed the wing feebly, yet ripped a piece of flesh off savagely, and gulped it down. "Happy?"  
_

"_Yes."_

"_Thank you."_

"_Eh?"_

"_For saving my life." Cortona would have blushed if her face weren't so drained of color._

"_Well thank you for saving mine, miss Cortona."_

**The One With the Philosophy Lesson**

_The world burned, and Cortona stood helpless. Her magic was gone, and her body was slowly giving in to the New Plague. She couldn't tell which sensation was stronger – the burning of her hands as she tried to shield her face from the flames erupting from the earth, or the cold creep of death as her wounded leg turned necrotic._

_A heavily armed and helmed human on an equally armed horse approached her. Cortona tried to plead for mercy or help, but the human merely raised its hand, and a beam of light cut through the fire and clouds of plague directly to her-_

_And then there was nothing. She tried to scream, but there was no sound – Cortona existed in mind only. Not even blackness or whiteness, just… Nothing._

"Wake up, elf!"

Cortona was dimly aware of having her shoulders being shaken, and squinted her eyes further shut – wait, shoulders? Eyes? That meant-

"Get up, you been havin' a nightmare, you been tossin' and whimperin' for an hour, I couldn' wake you up."

Trying to open her eyes was a chore; her eyelids felt unnaturally heavy, and her body was less than enthusiastic about moving at all, and felt numb from cold.

"I-I can't move!" Cortona's voice was barely a whisper, and talking was strenuous. She managed to pry an eyelid open a fraction of an inch, then immediately regretted that decision – clearly, she had slept through the night and most of the day, because the sky was the dusky orange of early evening.

The warmth of healing she now associated with Satya washed over her briefly, then immediately left her shaking with violent shivers.

Satya was not going to put up with this. He seized her head, and pulled an eyelid open toward the dying sunlight.

"I didn' know you had brown eyes."

That made her sit up. "Neither d-d-did I."

Shivering and squinting, Cortona crawled over to the pool of water on the island. She scooped cold water to her face to wash it, then stared down at the ripples until they calmed.

A brown-eyed elf stared back at her, long ears drooping, auburn hair limp, flesh pallid, and freckles standing out like ink blots on parchment. Cortona jumped back, repulsed.

"Wh-wh-what _happened_ t-t-to me?" Cortona shook harder with shivers, barely able to annunciate. This wasn't normal – usually a hard night's sleep was more than enough to solve even her worst mana problems.

She looked as bad as she did her last year of school, when her arcane crystal problem was at its peak - but even then, her eyes always remained brilliant green. Even right after the destruction of the Sunwell, when her eyes lost their blue hue, they never totally stopped glowing; they just turned a strange, intermediate teal color that looked hideous against her olive skin.

"I can' say, but I tink your body is havin' major mana deprivation problems."

"M-m-my bag, c-could you hand it t-to me?"

Satya scrutinized Cortona, peering down his long nose at her; her body sprawled out at the side of the pond. He plodded over to her bag, and tossed it in front of her. Raking through it desperately, Cortona sincerely hoped she still had _something_…

Hands trembling, Cortona procured what she so frantically searched for: a single, small arcane crystal – not enough to do any magic, but enough to help her get back to normal. It glowed unnaturally in her hand, highlighting her veins standing at the surface on her fingers and wrists, ready to absorb this magic. A large, blue hand clasped over her forearm.

"Elf, I don't know if dis is such a good idea…"

Cortona stood to meet his eyes, furious; the crystal was somehow giving her strength, even though she hadn't even used it yet.

"You think I _want_ to be doing this? You think this is _fun _for me?"

Holding the tiny crystal up before Satya's face, Cortona glared even harder. "I spent two years of my life recovering from using these _things_, because I didn't have the heart to drain creatures of their mana. But then I learned to not feel so guilty about tapping my enemies. Is that what you want me to do, _Satya_? Do you want to be my enemy? Do you _want_ me to steal mana from you?"

"It wouldn' be stealin' if it was freely given." Satya replied quietly. "I am more den willing to assist you in your dilemma. My concern is, as before, de balance of de elements in you. Have you ever meditated, elf?"

Completely taken aback, Cortona stared. "No, I haven- wait! That's not true…" Cortona's dull eyes looked almost misty as she reminisced. "When I first went into school, I was training to be a priestess. Obviously, I didn't do too well; I was a lot more interested in making fire than I was healing with light. I did do some meditation, but I usually fell asleep."

Satya nodded, and sat cross-legged himself. "Sit, den. And concentrate. Tink about water, earth, fire, and air, and how dey balance wit'in you."

"But I don't use earth or air…" Cortona mumbled indistinctly as she folded her legs beneath her and closed her eyes.

"It doesn't matter. Feel de breeze against your skin, de earth below your feet, de fire from de sun, the water all through and around you. Tink about how dey move together, one never dominating de other. All of dem necessary to survival, but too much of one and de others die."

Cortona was quiet for a few minutes, but something was bothering her, and it wasn't just her exhausted body.

"How, exactly, is this supposed to help?" Cortona asked feebly, keeping her eyes squinted shut.

"Because when you take my mana, it will be the mana of one of de most powerful shaman you ever met." Satya replied with a smug grin evident by the tone of his voice. "Wit'out proper concentration, de elements will be out of balance. Since you seem to _strongly _favor fire, it would take you over, which would be, ah, *_cough*_, not good."

Cortona glared at him with one drowsy eye. "You said that before. What aren't you telling me?"

"Not… Er… Um…" Satya broke eye contact, scratching behind one of his long ears nervously. This was the first time, despite all of the weirdness they had encountered so far, that Cortona had seen Satya actually look uncomfortable.

"You see, in Zandalar shamanism, each of de elements can be connected wit' a piece of what we are as beings, and it's difficult to translate, especially to someting as crude as orcish…" Satya continued scratching behind his ears.

"_Thalassiae a Darnassiae capiscen e rathanae?_" Cortona asked in Thalassian

"Darnassian, maybe." Satya was back to Orcish. "You know _logos_ and _pat'os_ in Darnassian, yes? _Logos _is what we attribute to de element of earth, it is knowledge, as well as wisdom dat transcends knowledge…" Satya muttered something in Zandalar, and then looked frustrated. "I guess I could say 'to know someting is to say someting, and to say someting is to know someting,' but dat's not a very good translation.

"What we attribute wit' water is _pat'os_, which I guess you could say "empat'y," but my orcish isn't doing much good here… _Pat'os_ is selfless; it's de flow between people and de world around us, "understanding" would be a good word here."

"Wait, there's a difference between knowledge and understanding?" Cortona's thirst to understand was acting up.

Satya rolled his eyes. "Yes, and I'm not goin' into why right now.

"Air… Is very difficult to translate. _Freischwebend_ is de Zandalar word, but it has no orcish, Darnassian, or Thalassian translation… I suppose you can say dat it is detatchment, the sensation of floatin' above de world and watchin'; _aura_.

"And dat brings us to fire, your main element. Again, _leidenschaft_ is hard to translate even to Darnassian, but I suppose "passion" or "will" can do, but it is passion dat is reckless and willpower dat is destructive if it is not controlled. Do you understand now?"

Cortona blinked sleepily, and wheezed a bit as she cleared her throat. "Sort of. I haven't had a philosophy lesson in ages, and a lot of that was new to me. So are you saying I might be angry and destructive with your mana?"

Satya, who had been looking quite happy as a teacher, suddenly looked away awkwardly. "Maybe, hopefully dat's only what happens. You must try to control your emotions, balance fire wit' water, passion wit' empat'y. Ot'erwise… Well, we'll cross dat bridge when we go to burn it, or whatever dat is de orcs say. Keep concentrating."

Closing her eyes again, Cortona tried to focus on keeping herself devoid of passion and detatched, trying out that _freischvebund_ or whatever that was with air. After what felt like a lifetime, she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder.

"Don't stop meditating, but reach out to me wit' your aura, and we'll try dis."

"That's a little too shaman for me to do…" Cortona murmured

"Just try."

Eyes squinted in concentration, Cortona tried to feel Satya in front of her, the world around her, and she vaguely registered a sort of heat emanating from Satya that might have been this "aura" he was talking about. Then she reached with her right hand, finding Satya's own upturned hand, touching his fingertips gently.

Upon contact, power unlike anything she had ever felt burned just under his skin, but just out of her grasp. His aura responded to her presence; it was overwhelming now, and Cortona felt her own feeble spirit being crushed.

So she reacted.

_Eh heh heh… That "Aesthetics and Theory" class finally came in handy for something – and yes, I wasn't just making words up, some of that was legitimate philosophy! Anyway, please review!_


	7. The One Where Things Get Heated

DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

Author's Note: This chapter contains very mature content, and is completely skippable if you don't want to read it (but I'm pretty sure most people come here completely for these chapters…).

LAST TIME:

_Upon contact, power unlike anything she had ever felt burned just under his skin, but just out of her grasp. His aura responded to her presence; it was overwhelming now, and Cortona felt her own feeble spirit being crushed._

_So she reacted._

**The One Where Things Get Heated**

Cortona's gentle touch to Satya's fingertips turned to a clutch of his wrist, and Cortona immediately felt mana flow into her. The experience was unlike anything she had ever felt – well, no she _had_ felt this, but she couldn't quite place it at the moment. Heat surged through her, her head tilted back in ecstasy, and her eyes flew open and glowed pure white - which was all Cortona could see.

What had Satya been talking about? She didn't feel burned; instead, a warm, pleasant sensation was gathering in and through her, making her moan, and crave more of whatever he was giving her. But it was building without release. Feeling pent up, Cortona clutched harder as she fell into Satya's lap, wanting relief from this tension. Throbs of pleasure emanated from where she gripped, but it still wasn't enough…

A strong hand grasped Cortona's arm, wrenching her off.

Suddenly, Cortona could see again, and while she no longer felt the flow of power into her, she could feel the warmth of what she gained still pooling within her; she found herself whimpering at Satya, nonverbally pleading for him to give her release. Some part of Cortona's mind hazily understood what Satya was warning her about when he talked about fire's reckless passion - she was practically prostrating herself before him, desperate. Whatever her body wanted, she knew he had it.

"_Vase'ri vu Cortona, a ketai st'uen obeijo ketein rej'i'kia."_ Satya quickly whispered something in Zandalari, his voice strained.

Satya now held both of Cortona's wrists in front of her as she knelt before him, keeping her at arm's length, since she kept trying to claw her way to him. Upon seeing his face, even Cortona's lusty mind was momentarily taken aback. Satya's eyes, which had been glowing white during the mana transfer, had now lost their luminescence, and the edges were rimmed in a blood red that was slowly seeping to the middle. Something about seeing that reaction only made her more desperate, and she kept straining to get to him.

"You need to calm yourself, elf, or I'm going to do someting we'll bot' regret." His voice was uncharacteristically harsh as he tried to push Cortona away with what seemed like only half of his usual strength.

"Please… I'll do anything you want, whatever you want, please, just… _Please_…" Cortona whimpered as she squeezed her thighs together and angled her hips toward Satya, trying to release some of the tension built up in her.

"Please _what_, Cortona? You wish I would totally lose control and take you here and now, like any ot'er troll would?" Satya paused, as though he was considering the answer himself, lightly stroking the inside of her wrists with his thumb. "No. I like to tink dat I have more control den dat, and I won't let you debase yourself so much dat you would lie wit' a troll."

Cortona took this opportunity to put her tiny, stick-like arms to use, and slid out of Satya's weakening grip. With strength she didn't realize she had, Cortona tackled a startled Satya to the ground, straddling above his hips and clutching at his chest. Not quite tall enough to reach his face, Cortona pulled away Satya's tunic at the neck, kissing all along his collarbone, his neck, and even his tusks at one point. Inwardly, she wondered what the hell she was doing; she never had more than a couple awkward make out sessions in her life, but her body seemed to know what to do without any help from her clouded mind.

"Please… Satya… _Fessoro Dal'Jin…"_ Cortona panted, having no idea why she just called him "teacher," let alone in Thalassian. "I want this, please… Just… Help me…" She grinded her hips against his, satisfied to feel that he was just as heated as she was, his arousal evident even through many heavy layers of chain mail and leather.

"Help you? Well…" In a swift motion, Satya sat up and turned Cortona around so that she sat on the ground, pinned between his legs, facing away from him. They faced the burning orange evening sky, but Cortona was utterly unable to appreciate any kind of beauty around her with her own fire burning within. She squirmed, trying to rile her huge captor, but her actions were stilled when long fingers snaked around her waist to hold her.

Satya set his chin on Cortona's head, his tusks framing her face, keeping her from turning to face him. He let out a long, drawn-out sigh, sounding frustrated. "I suppose… Dis is my own fault." He slapped away Cortona's wandering hand, which was inching its way up his thigh. "I will tell you how to take care of dis, but you will need to… Finish it yourself." Satya's voice was strained as he continued having to hold Cortona's waist in place.

Cortona already knew what needed to happen. "But… I've never – I mean, I can't convert this mana, and without arcane magic I can't set up the spell-"

"You use _spells_?" Cortona could feel Satya's groan reverberate through his heated body. "What _are_ they teaching in Silvermoon these days?"

Cortona was startled and delighted as a large hand started haphazardly loosening the bindings on her robe, practically ripping at her collar. Now completely disheveled, Cortona shuddered in anticipation, the heat between her thighs growing to an unbearable degree.

Bowing his head, Satya inhaled deeply as he kissed Cortona's collarbone and shoulder, tracing from her chin down her neck with a single finger. While Cortona couldn't see it, Satya's eyes had now become completely red, and his breathing was labored. His other hand crept up from her waist, and came to join the other as his long fingers slowly teased at her nipples.

"Now tell me about dese spells you use." Satya growled into Cortona's neck, softly biting her there, much to her delight.

"W-well, it's an illusion I made up, really…" Cortona was startled at the sudden change in his attitude, and squeaked as Satya pinched her breast.

"What do you see?"

"I'm back in school, before the Sundering. My alchemy master sends me out to collect herbs down by the river at the border of the Ghostlands. I'm kneeling by the river, and a bandit attacks me and takes me under the bridge… Sometimes, it's a high elf outlaw, sometimes a night elf rogue, sometimes…" Cortona closed her now-fluorescent green eyes and writhed, not wanting to admit it.

"Sometimes…?" Satya bit and pinched a little harder, his tusk brushing against her neck in a terribly familiar fashion.

"S-s-sometimes… It's an Amani troll." Cortona confessed quietly.

Satya chuckled darkly, his right hand abandoning a breast, slowly creeping its way down her side to stroke at her hips. He slowly started pulling up and parting the fabric of her robe, leaving it to pool up at her waist.

"Good girl… Dat wasn't so hard, now was it?" Satya kissed her neck where he bit her, which was still stinging a bit. "Dis troll, what does he do?"

"Usually, h-h-he just rips my clothes off, teases me, then bends me over a rock and takes me. But sometimes…" Cortona wriggled, trying to tempt Satya's finger further down. "Sometimes he ties me, teases me, then makes me beg for it, and forces me to orgasm." Cortona blushed as she felt herself grow warmer and moister as she realized the similarities between her fantasies and her present reality.

"This illusion… All in your mind?"

"Yes." Cortona was practically panting like a dog now; such was the heat within her.

"So you've never actually…?"

"No." Cortona's face flushed even further. No, she had never had to handle these kinds of urges… _Manually_, not when she was able to conjure such convincing illusions.

"Den it will be my pleasure to show you how you take care of dis."

Satya's huge hand slowly skimmed across Cortona's hips – rather broad for an elf – and tugged her underwear a few inches down her legs. Sweeping back up her thighs, his hand stroked and clutched at the flesh he found there. Cortona's skin was hypersensitive, yet every touch only inflamed her further, rather than bringing her to any sort of release.

A single, large finger finally tested the very juncture of Cortona's thighs, teasing them open. The finger traced all around Cortona's sopping wet center, never quite touching where she wanted it to. Spreading her legs further and bucking her hips, Cortona grew even more frustrated.

"Please… Just… Touch me…"

"Touch you where?" Satya had an amused edge to his voice, continuing to tease a nipple with his left hand, leaving his right hand to touch everywhere but where Cortona wanted it.

Growling in aggravation, Cortona again tried to move herself, but Satya held her firmly in place, exactly in a position where she couldn't self-gratify.

"_Anywhere!" _Cortona groaned.

Satya chortled sinisterly behind her, and bit at her shoulder again. "Elf, I don' tink you want to say dat to a troll wit' fingers dis big. Tell me where, now."

"_Please_, just… I need you inside me… Show me…" Cortona finally relented, ears drooping in embarrassment.

"Goooood girrrrl…" Satya growled, his finger finally parting her folds, and delving just inside.

Cortona was nearly blinded with sensation yet again, but this time from a much more carnal source. Satya's huge finger was surprisingly gentle and agile as it just barely dipped inside her, getting absolutely drenched. Moving back outside, Satya tested Cortona's reactions until he found a spot that made her gasp. He gently rubbed and stroked it with a feather-light touch, making Cortona buck her hips as she tried to get him to press harder, rub faster, push inside of her, _anything_ but this torturous teasing that just made her more and more tense. She even braced her feet against the ground, trying to push herself against him.

"No, no, no…" Satya pulled his finger away from her pussy, a trail of fluid following his finger. "If I'm showin' you how to do dis, we're doin' it my way. Jus' sit back…" He licked his finger, then growled, "And _submit._"

On that word, Satya sank his teeth into the juncture of Cortona's neck and shoulder, and his finger into her folds. She gasped at the overwhelming sensations; the satisfaction that was just out of reach, the pleasurable pain of Satya's teeth still puncturing her flesh, and the tension as her opening was stretched by the tip of Satya's finger – just enough to not make her bleed from the pressure. She found herself relaxing – but still stretched tight – as Satya's thumb gave her clit a few quick strokes. To her relief, Satya pulled out, and resumed his torturous stroking of her clit.

Withdrawing his teeth, Satya licked at the small trail of blood that issued from the wound. "Now then, _Cortona," _he made his emphasis with a single hard stroke that immediately made Cortona crave more.

"I don' know what gets you dere, so if you like someting…" Satya bit at her neck and gave her clit an even more ferocious stroke.

"_Scream for me_."

And so she screamed.

Everything went dark.

_My first (published) citrus, and a taste of things to come… Reviews please!_


	8. The One Where Things Get Back on Track

DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update! Much longer author's note at the bottom.

LAST TIME:

_And so she screamed._

_Everything went dark._

**The One Where Things Get Back On Track**

The sun was unforgivably bright.

Half awake, Cortona groaned and squinted her eyes further shut. She could already feel a killer headache coming on, her shoulder inexplicably throbbed with pain, and her memories were fuzzy at best. _Am I hung over? What did I-_

Her eyes shot open, pupils contracting rapidly as she scanned the island, locating a certain crouched, lanky figure.

"_You!_ Did I-"

"Yes."

"Did we-"

"No."

"But did we-"

"Yes."

"Did _you-"_

"_No_."

Cortona could scream at him. "What happened? I don't remember everything, I mean, I remember _some _things…" Cortona blushed as her memory prompted her with a particularly explicit image of her in a rather compromising position that more than explained the pain at the juncture of her shoulder and neck.

Satya rubbed at his forehead, exhaling slowly. "You… Passed out after I – er – well, I didn'… You're still… Erm… Let's jus' say we're not tryin' dat again anytime soon."

Burying her face in her hands, Cortona's ears sagged in shame. "Oh god, this is all my fault, if I were a better mage, this would have never happened…"

"No, and if we were to get into technicalities, _it_ happened because you were too powerful, and I didn' take dat into account. It's completely my own fault for not havin' better control of my own fuckin' body." Satya crudely bit out with an eerily familiar growl.

"If I remember correctly, I seem to recall being the one to attack _you_." Cortona mumbled as she peered out of her hand barrier between two fingers.

"Dat shouldn' have been an issue." Satya ran his fingers through his hair, a gesture that was becoming plainly evident as his nervous habit. "I'm supposed to be… _Better_… Den dat. I meant what I said las' night – any ot'er troll would have… I almos'… I'm a shaman, not a…" Satya muttered some Zandalari curse that sounded oddly close to the Thalassian word for "pervert."

"Better than what? You're no worse of a troll than I am an elf! I did the most stereotypically stupid things I could possibly do when I used destructive magic, wiped my mana, and then _tapped_ you…" Cortona felt her blush creep up to her ears. "Well, the point is that I instigated this stupidity by being reckless, and I feel terrible about it."

"Howevah reckless your magic was, what you did saved our lives, and for dat I am in your debt. I'm old enough dat I should have been able to control myself dis time..." Satya pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly frustrated. "Look, normally I would spend de rest of de mornin' apologizing for bein' an idiot, but unfortunately, dat isn't our biggest concern right now."

Cortona dropped her hands to massage her temples, trying to dispel her raging headache and remember anything from the last two days that didn't involve her half-dressed. His use of "normally" and "this time" bothered her more than it should have… "The Earthen Ring, right. What was that all about?"

"Well, you were righ' when you said it felt like dat earthquake was everywhere – Deathwing has returned."

"Deathwing…" Cortona stared off vacantly, trying to avoid eye contact with Satya, but glad to have something to think about other than what she did or didn't do the previous night. "Remind me again what that is?"

Satya raised a skeptical brow. "You're kiddin', right? Giant dragon aspect? Demon Soul? Net'erdrakes? Grim Batol? Kirin Tor? Any of dat ring any bells?"

"Oh… Right. History was never my best subject."

"_History?_ How old _are _you?"

"A lady never tells. How old are _you?_" Cortona shot back.

Satya snorted. "Old enough to be glad dat de Darkspear weren' involved in de Second War. Ot'erwise, I probably would have killed some of your relatives, an' dis whole situation would have been even stranger."

"Gee, sorry Gramps, I shouldn't have made you do too much work with those frail old fingers." Cortona blurted before she could stop herself.

"You didn' seem to mind dese old bones last night." A ghost of Satya's wry smile appeared on his face that made Cortona flush pink again – but she was glad he was able to make some light of this weird situation.

"But de point is dat Azeroth isn' de same anymore. De dwarvish dams burst, Stonetalon erupted, T'ousand Needles flooded, pretty much everywhere was on fire at some point… Dere's been a lot of recovery so far, but most people are still rebuildin'. De Earthen Ring – and I – tink dat if de Forsaken were to try anytin' wit' dat disese, now would be de ideal time, especially since dey jus' put a bounty on your head for treason." Satya locked eyes with Cortona.

Cortona's head spun as she tried to process all of that information. So the Azeroth she knew was no more, but that was to be expected - what little she saw of Deathwing's arrival was disastrous. And of course the Forsaken would wait for some huge event and someone else to blame before they tried to implement anything; she just couldn't believe they had the nerve to try to pin this whole thing on her.

"So what am I supposed to do, hide out in Booty Bay for the rest of my life?" That actually wouldn't be so bad; three years of adventuring in Northrend and then being stuck in the perpetually freezing Undercity had left Cortona craving warmer temperatures.

Satya let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "What de Earthen Ring has proposed – and I agreed – is for me to escort you to de Temple of Earth in Deepholme, so dat dis can be handled properly, and wit'out someone, Alliance or Horde or whatever, tryin' to kill you."

"So… I'm not getting rid of you, everyone wants to kill me, and we can't just leave this as a one-night stand." Cortona groaned, flopping down to the ground.

"No, yes, and unfortunately, no. I know dis is goin' to be… _Awkward_, but I tink we should try to put what happened las' night behind us and maintain a, er, professional relationship."

"Great, but we're still stuck on this island for the foreseeable future."

"I was waitin' for you to wake up so we could sort dis out before I did somethin' about that. But now dat you are…"

Cortona dragged herself to her feet, curious in spite of herself. Satya had gone to the edge of the island, and was crouched in a channeling position. Standing, Cortona could now see that they were significantly closer to the ground than they were, but still too high to risk jumping. Cortona still couldn't believe her predicament. Not only would she be stuck with Satya until they got away from Outland, but for however long it took to get to Deepholm as well; she found herself regretting not paying more attention in history or geography, since she had no idea how long this journey was going to take. Cortona was typically a loner, too, and not being amicable and social when there are only two traveling companions was, in her experience, extremely awkward. And of course it didn't help that she got horribly inappropriate flashbacks every time she made eye contact with Satya, or heard him say something…

"I sugges' you hang on to somethin'."

Cortona was roused from her bout of self-pity, gathered up all of her possessions, and wedged herself between some particularly large tree roots. She could feel power gathering around Satya, who had planted a new totem into the island and one on the ground below them. It was sorely tempting to siphon off just a little bit of that mana Satya channeled so freely, but Cortona had learned her lesson, even if she couldn't fully remember the consequences. Satya stood, slowly inhaling as he lifted his arms to level with his shoulders, and then bent his elbows, palms facing upward as he allowed the energy to swirl and condense around him. He shuffled his heels out, bracing his knees, and then flipped his hands, pushing down.

The reaction was instantaneous - the island dropped like the rock it was. Cortona braced for impact, but it never came. Instead, the island bounced slightly, as though it hit something soft.

"That should abou' do it." Satya grabbed his small pile of belongings, tucking them inside his tunic. "Ready?"

Tumbling out of the roots, Cortona was more than a little disoriented. "I think so… Why couldn't you do that before?"

Summoning up a rock from the solid ground, Satya climbed down his new stone staircase. "We had to be a lot closer to de ground for dat to work. Now come on, we need to get to Shattrat' by nightfall."

Carefully climbing down the stairs with decidedly troll-sized steps, Cortona peered under the rock that had been their home. The soft landing was immediately explained – a tiny air totem was planted in the ground, creating an air pocket just big enough to keep the island afloat. She watched after Satya, who was already heading northeast toward Shattrath.

"Wait, so we're _walking?_

_

* * *

_

She had been there dozens of times before, but Shattrath was always startlingly large and open after the dense forest of Terokkar. Its overwhelming size was only more intimidating when one had to approach the city on foot, something Cortona was unused to. Satya had taken the lead, and was pointing them in the direction of the Aldor elevator.

"Um… Hey…" Satya turned to face Cortona, who had barely uttered a word since her rant about having to walk. Cortona had just started calling him "Hey" or "Hey you;" for some reason she couldn't remember, saying his name felt dirty, as did the Thalassian word for "teacher." She glanced up at the Aldor area, concerned. "Look, were you planning on going up there? Because that might be a problem for me."

"What, were you Scryer? I really don' tink dey care about dat as much anymore, and you're wit' me."

"No, it's not just that… Look, let's just say that I had some family on the wrong side of the war out here, and while I might not look like much, there's definitely a family resemblance." Cortona replied with a roll of her eyes. "I'd just rather avoid conflict, you know?"

Satya nodded. "Can you stay safe? It should be pretty secure here, wit' de peacekeepers an' all, but I don' want anyone out fo' your bounty recognizin' you an' followin' us."

Cortona flipped her hood up over her head with a snort. "Please. I'm practically invisible when I want to be, just not so much when I'm traipsing after a troll and trying not to look like my cousins."

"Meet here in an hour? I need to speak wit' some of de sages while I'm here."

"Yeah, sure; I needed some reagents anyway."

Satya loped off toward the elevator, and Cortona let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. _Finally, some time to myself!_ She decided against heading to a bank; she hadn't been in Shattrath recently enough to know anyone at the Scryer bank, and explaining that she wasn't there to kill everyone was just tiresome. Tucking her ears within her hood, she headed toward Lower City, hoping the reagent vendor hadn't moved since she was last in town. She was starved for alone time, real food, and some news – and news was never far away for a lithe elf who didn't want to be seen. On her way, she tried her best to eavesdrop on a whispered conversation between a couple of dwarf and draenei soldiers walking in front of her; their burnt clothes evidence that they had clearly just arrived from Azeroth.

"-erupted, so did Stonetalon, from what I heard-"

"Darkshore got the worst of it, although it's difficult to tell what fire was from Deathwing and what the Warsong Outriders already did-"

"Well, they hadn't spread much further north then Ashenvale, last I saw. Besides, what they've done is nothing next to the orc rebuilding projects and what that Bilgewater Cartel has started doing to restore Azshara-"

"That Hellscream child can barely keep his offensive going, especially with so much dissention in the ranks, you heard about the elf and the Royal Apothecary Society?"

"Yes… Cor-something DeVasari, wasn't it? I thought that whole clan was dead, or still allied with the Legion."

Cortona's eyes widened, and she slunk in the shadows behind a vendor cart, grateful that the soldiers decided to stop at this particular shop, making her spying far less evident than if she had kept blatantly following them. Sure, her family was somewhat notorious among elves, but she never realized just how infamous they had become.

"They're certainly a cursed family. I almost feel sorry for the girl; I wouldn't want the Royal Apothecary Society after me."

"It's got to be a setup, she probably just ran away at a convenient time for them. Girl got in too deep and wanted out – it's not unheard of - and they needed a scapegoat for whatever atrocities they've been planning. The Horde will be out for her blood, mark my words. They don't take kindly to traitors."

"Suppose they didn't just set her up, and she actually does know something they don't want _anyone _finding out, even other members of the Horde. She's not just wanted dead or alive, she's been labeled extremely dangerous, and they want her killed on sight and with her body as proof. Most folks won't question that directive, and turn in her head for easy money."

"But who has the time to hunt down a single elf during this kind of crisis?"

"Bounty hunters, rogues, pirates, thieves, anyone out to make a profit; it's not like those kinds of folks are helping with the cleanup effort. And I'm telling you, it benefits the Alliance even more than the Horde to find this girl alive, or we'll have another Wrathgate incident on our hands. SI:7 will have a bounty just as large to turn her in alive, I'm sure."

"Well, she wouldn't stay alive from their interrogations too long, that's for sure."

Cortona chose to back away from the conversation toward the reagent and food vendors; she had heard more than enough, and then some. Suddenly, making this journey with someone as experienced and deadly as Satya looked a lot more appealing. Cortona lowered her hood even more to browse vendor stalls, too preoccupied to really pay attention to what she was buying. A nasty grimace ghosted across her face as she came to a sudden realization. Much as she didn't like the idea, a stop in Silvermoon seemed more and more necessary. She would need to stop by her parents' house for a different robe and boots to allow for faster movement. Looking down at her dagger, she frowned. While it had served her well, it didn't have the same _oomph_ she managed to get from her mother's old staff – and no one was going to stop her from taking that now. _It's been, what, eight years since I left? Surely he's still not waiting up on me – well, no, that's impossible, he'd be killed on sight in Silvermoon, But __**he-**_

"I t'ought we were going to meet up where I dropped you off." A familiar voice grumbled from directly behind Cortona, making her jump and nearly drop the massive armful of crystal vials she was holding.

"Gah! Don't _do _that! And I'm sorry, I kind of lost track of the time." Cortona turned to face Satya, and nearly dropped her vials again at his appearance.

Before, Satya had been wearing an elaborate tunic and kilt combination embedded with expensive and powerful gems and weaves, and carried two intricate-looking maces, making him look very much the master of elements he had proven to be. Now, he was decked head-to-toe in less elaborate, but considerably more sturdy – and deadly – gear. The armor had a worn look to it, but the chain mail was completely intact, the deep turquoise plate and leather armor looked like it had just had new, blindingly orange gems set in it, and the two massive axes strapped on Satya's back were only made more intimidating from their battle-worn appearance. Where Satya had been somewhat hidden by layers of expensive armor before, his mail-centric outfit now emphasized just how _huge_ he was next to Cortona; his shoulders alone were easily three times as wide as hers! By the time Cortona's eyes reached Satya's head, he had a small smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Like what you see, eh?"

Cortona blushed more than she should have. "Oh, shut up."

"Well if you can tear your eyes from me long enough, we've got places to go." Satya glanced down at Cortona's feet, seeing a massive pile of purchases that Cortona barely remembered buying, as well as the armful of vials she still clung to. "Do you _need_ all of dat?"

"What? Oh, this? Um…" Cortona fumbled, trying to reach her pocket to pay the increasingly impatient vendor in front of her. Bottles began to slide out of her grip; she tried to recover, panicking, but lost two bottles to the unforgiving stone ground. Satya sighed, plunked down more than enough silver to cover her bill.

"It's not like I didn't have enough money, you didn't have to do that." Cortona snapped as she dumped her vials in one of her bulging bags.

"I'm willin' to pay for de convenience of not havin' you make a fool of yourself for de next five minutes." Satya raised an eyebrow at the sheer number of items Cortona had managed to buy. "And I suppose you want me an' my big arms to carry all of dis for you?"

Rolling her eyes, Cortona glared up at Satya from beneath her hood. "Don't be such a chauvinist." She twirled her fingers around, channeling some arcane magic, then hastily pointed to each of her bags, making them shrink to the size of teabags. She scooped them up into her cloak, locking eyes with an impressed-in-spite-of-himself Satya.

"Dat's not sometin you see a mage doin' every day. I sure hope you didn' have anytin' too volatile in dere; when I firs' did dat to my backpack as a student, my whole potion supply blew up when I brough' it back to normal size."

"Don't worry, that was just reagents and food. I keep the important stuff in here." Cortona jerked her thumb backwards, indicating her backpack. "So, what's our route?"

Satya glanced around, apparently not liking where they were. "I'll tell you when we're somewhere safer. In de meantime, we're headin' to Quel'danas, since dat portal is de only one dat still works. From dere, we head sout'" He gently pushed Cortona's back, propelling her in the direction of the city center.

"Do you mind if we stop in Silvermoon? I mean, I see you've opted for some different armor-"

"I needed equipment better for killin' quickly, not channeling elements efficiently. Bein' eye candy for you is jus' a side benefit."

Cortona could kill him, but chose to ignore the jibe at her expense. "Look, I just need to stop by my parent's house, preferably at night, and grab some things. In, out, done."

Satya studied Cortona as they walked. His silence made it evident that he wanted to know more, but chose to remain silent. After some time, he replied

"Fine by me, as long as no one sees you."

"Trust me, I'm a lot more worried about that than you." Cortona whispered softly.

Cortona's stomach tightened as they approached the portal to Quel'danas. She would be that much closer to Silvermoon, _and_ she had to go through another portal. Satya stood next to the swirling hole in space, gesturing for her to enter.

"Ladies first, is dat how it goes?"

"If you want me to save your ass in case of emergency, I suggest we go in together again." Why? Why did she put herself in this situation? She knew exactly what he was going to do, yet she was all right with it…

"Fine by me."

Satya grabbed her around the waist and stepped through the portal; Cortona could only hope that this trip through a portal was less eventful than the previous one…

* * *

**Author's Note:** Whew! Sorry that took so long, you all know how the holidays are. I made an effort to make a super-long chapter, and we have lots of new mysteries here… Why was Satya _so_ mad at himself for being a horndog? What is up with Cortona's family, and why is she so anxious about going to Silvermoon? Why are the portals in Shattrath gone? – well, not really something to ponder for the future, but seriously, Blizzard. What the hell. Some of us have toons to level out there.

Anywho, hope you enjoyed, and keep those reviews coming!

**Explanation for Satya's age, and rant warning** – I know that the wowwiki entry says that trolls are old when they're 47 and "venerable" when they're 80, but I find those numbers to be utter bull. Consider Zul'jin, who was really old when Warcraft II/ the Second War started, and continued causing problems well into the Burning Crusade, and only died because 25 random raiders killed him! I also find his cryptic words "We never forget. We never die" from the Zul'Aman trailer to be telling, along with the whole regeneration racial trait! REGENERATION. WHAT THE HELL, MAN. If anything, this should make them nearly as long-lived as elves, who don't even have this fun little benefit. The only reason I could see people perceiving them as being short-lived is that they kill each other off so quickly – but the skilled or smart ones (in my story's case, Satya) live on almost indeterminably, and eventually go hole themselves up in instances and taunt everyone to come kill them (I never did get my bear… *tear*). I suspect they eventually reach old age and die, just like the modern elves do, but like the elves, I think they live a pretty damn long time, and most certainly outlive humans, orcs, etc.

TL,DR version: I call bull on the WoW RPG life spans for trolls, and declare that they basically live as long as they don't get themselves killed – which is rare, since they like killing each other so damn much.


	9. The One Where Cortona Has Family Issues

DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

LAST TIME:

_Satya grabbed her around the waist and stepped through the portal; Cortona could only hope that this trip through a portal was less eventful than the previous one… _

**The One Where Cortona Has Family Issues**

The harbor at Quel'danas had changed a lot since Cortona was last there. It was no longer a center of rampaging demons and death, but now a relatively quiet, calm harbor, with a scant few Shattered Sun members milling around. Satya was already lumbering toward the flight master to see about getting a ride; clearly he knew his way around here, making Cortona wonder what a member of the Earthen Ring was doing with the Shattered Sun.

Satya's long strides had already taken him a good way toward where the dragonhawks were roosting, while Cortona had been lost in thought and admiring the surroundings. By the time she caught up with him, Satya was already in an argument with the flight master.

"-but I can't let anyone that close to Silvermoon. They're paranoid right now, since it's one of the few cities that Deathwing didn't raze. They've got the city locked down, and don't want anyone flying within a few miles of there until this gets sorted out." The blood elf crossed his arms, and looked uncomfortable. "I know you're not here to cause any trouble, I completely respect that you're a member of the Earthen Ring and you're just trying to help your girlfriend out, but the fact and the matter is that you'd get shot down as soon as anyone saw you approach. They're not taking any risks."

Cortona had caught her breath, and felt her hood drop to her shoulders. She heard enough to have a gist of what was going on. "Well, let us fly to Sunstrider, and we'll walk from there. I doubt they're taking out folks on foot."

The flight master turned to acknowledge Cortona; his eyebrows rose considerably at her appearance, causing Cortona to flinch - she knew him. Not well, but enough that he would recognize her. He studied her for a couple seconds, eyebrow raised.

"You look awfully familiar." He said slowly, his tone indicating that he _definitely_ recognized her, but wasn't sure how to handle the situation.

"Um, my cousin is Massimo DeVasari. I get that a lot. But of course, he's a lot of peoples' cousin, isn't he? Well, except they're, like, all dead. Not, like, _all_, clearly I'm here. But, you know, the Burning Legion. They do a number on families." Cortona babbled nonsensically, eyes darting to Satya for support. His look was skeptical, and Cortona swore she saw him mouth "_Smooth_."

"I know, I remember you now. You're Cortona, Chiara DeVasari's little sister. You were in my niece's debutante group." He avoided stating the obvious – that Cortona was a fugitive on the run. Looking even more uncomfortable, he shifted his weight on his feet. "Look, I'm supposed to report if I see you…"

"Please, you have to understand. I was framed, and Satya Dal'jin here is escorting me under orders from the Earthen Ring. You _have_ to believe me." Cortona pleaded.

"Your… _companion_… Said that he was helping you, I didn't know who you were, or that you were an elf, for that matter. I'm… I'm going to trust the Earthen Ring here. I never really trusted the Royal Apothecary Society, anyway."

Cortona exhaled. "Thank you so much, you have no idea…"

"Trust me, plenty of other people are going to take your bounty over your word. It's just… I know what happened with your sister, with your family. You had a lot more timely opportunities to leave Horde, and it just doesn't make sense for you to betray anyone now."

Flinching, Cortona could practically feel Satya's eyeballs burning in the back of her skull. _That _was going to raise a lot of questions. The flight master gave a sharp whistle, and the largest of his dragonhawks' head perked up, and waddled awkwardly to Cortona's side.

"I assume you've had some experience flying?" The flight master asked Cortona.

"Well, yeah, never one this big, but-"

"Good. You'll have to guide him, since you're not going to a location he knows. Just land him somewhere open and safe on Sunstrider, and make sure you have plenty of room around you, since he likes to circle pretty wide. He knows his way back."

"Ok, but how is he getting there?" Cortona gestured toward Satya.

"Your, erm, gentleman friend here said that you would be going together."

"Come on, _ju'fi_, I've got dis covered." Satya's fingers grasped Cortona's waist, steering her toward the dragonhawk, and deposited a handful of coins into the flight master's waiting palm.

The massive dragonhawk hunkered down to the ground to allow Satya and Cortona to climb on. Uncomfortably sitting in front of Satya, Cortona took the reins with some hesitance. The dragonhawk remained crouched, but craned its neck to give Cortona a wary look, oddly similar to that of his master.

"…Oh, right. _Shala, dracon." _Cortona nudged his sides with her heels, and immediately, the dragonhawk coiled along the ground a few times, crouched, then launched for the air.

Satya muttered some Zandali curse, and clung tightly to Cortona's waist as the dragon circled higher and higher, before finally stopping its corkscrew ascent and heading south.

"_Dis_ is why I didn' want to fly on my own." Satya said weakly.

"Aww, what's the matter, big tough troll scared of heights?" Cortona tilted her head back just enough to see Satya looking far greener than usual.

"Not _heights_, how do you tink I would have been on dat island if I were scared of heights? No, it's dat horrible spinning dese creatures do to take off." Cortona could feel Satya shudder behind her, reminding her of something.

"What did you tell that guy back there, anyway? And what was that you called me, anyway?"

Satya sighed. "If you mus' know, I told him dat you were deat'ly ill, and dat I needed supplies from Silvermoon to cure you. I may or may have not implied dat you and I were... _Involved_."

"_What?_"

"If you can tink of a bettah excuse for a troll from de Earthen Ring and a suspicious-lookin' blood elf mage to be travelin' together, I would love to hear it."

"I don't know, you're my inscription trainer or something, and we're going to gather supplies?"

"…Okay, dat probably would have worked bettah. We'll use dat as our story – or…" Satya let out a surprisingly devilish cackle, considering that moments before, he was trying not to throw up. "_Or_, we could say dat I'm your teacher, tryin' to balance your fire problems wit' shamanism. It's not like you don' need it, dat sound like a good idea to me. We could start tonight, if you like."

"Ugh, could you _be _more vain?"

"Yes."

Cortona rolled her eyes, and remembered something else irking her. "Was it really necessary to say I was your… Your… Girlfriend, or _Ju'fi_, whatever the hell _that_ means!"

"Don' get your panties in a twist, it supported my story, and ju'fi is just a term of endearment. Not dat you deserve it; you're bein' an outrigh' shrew, naggin' me when I'm tryin' valiantly to not t'row up on your head. Besides, I figured _you_ wouldn' mind. You seemed amenable to de idea las' night."

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, if you get to call me a pet name, I don' see why I can' return de favor. What was it? Oh, yes… _Fessoro_, wasn' it?"

Cortona exhaled, slowly counting to ten. Normally, she was reserved and not nearly this hot-tempered, but something about Satya absolutely riled her dignity, particularly if he kept mentioning the state of her panties or what happened last night. They were approaching their destination, and, with a smirk, Cortona found her means of revenge. With a grassy hillside in sight, she tugged the reins to steer the dragonhawk even higher.

"Hold on, _Fessoro _Dal'jin." Cortona could hardly contain her glee, feeling Satya positively clutch her waist with both hands. Leaning forward, she yanked the reins of the dragonhawk, sending it into a fast, tight helix straight down to the open field below. Hauling the reins up, the dragonhawk landed, and Cortona hopped off, landing primly on her feet.

Satya, however, was not as elegant. Practically falling off the saddle, he staggered away from the dragonhawk, one hand covering his mouth and the other clutching his stomach. The dragonhawk trotted over to Cortona, nodded appreciatively, then took off toward the sky; the mere sight of its spiraling motion caused Satya to double over, barely keeping himself from retching.

"For crying out loud… Here." Cortona rifled through her bag, and pushed a flask into Satya's hand. "It's for headaches and stomach problems, but it should help."

Downing it gratefully, Satya shuddered, apparently roused from his nauseated stupor. "I'm not goin' to hear de end of dis, am I?"

Huffily, Cortona sniffed "No, _I _have the poise to not _repeatedly_ harp and tease about… _Things_ you had no control over."

"So you're sayin' you had absolutely _no _control over _anytin'_ you did or said las' night?"

"Well, no, not exactly, you see, I don't really-"

"_Not'ing_ but de mana controllin' you, eh?" A smile crept across Satya's mouth, and Cortona was finding it more and more difficult to remember to breathe deeply and rise above his baiting. Why? Why did he have to keep harassing her?

"Oh, you just _had_ to go there, didn't you? _What happened to 'maintaining a professional relationship, huh?_"

* * *

_This_ argument was a long time coming. Satya and Cortona's bickering not only included discussion concerning what may or may not have happened the previous night, but went on to encompass the benefits of shamanism versus arcane magic, the protocol for how they should be acting around each other, Cortona's lack of judgment in her reckless _use_ of magic, Satya's lack of judgment in his reckless _giving_ of magic, and the social perceptions of an unmarried female elf and a single male troll to be traveling together. And, all throughout, both of them kept making jabs at what had happened the previous night, whether it was about Cortona's unladylike behavior or Satya's willingness to let Cortona continue said behavior.

In the end, they came to a compromise – Satya would stop bothering Cortona about the previous night, as long as she would, without complaining, subject herself to nightly lessons about balancing her admittedly unstable fire magic. Their negotiations lasted them well past their journey through the ruins south of Sunstrider, and all the way up to the main city walls of Silvermoon. Pausing their squabbling to consider their surroundings, Cortona was the first to speak up.

"Well, the sun is setting, but I'd honestly prefer to go through the gates at night. They'll ask more questions, but they won't be able to see as much."

"I still tink it's suspicious enough dat dey'll want to see exactly who you are. We may have to try someting more drastic." Satya reached in his bag, and suddenly began pulling out hundreds of cloth bandages without explanation.

"Um, not that I'd think to question the almighty Fessoro Dal'jin, but what on earth are you doing?" Cortona had taken to using her "pet name" for Satya as often as possible, mostly because it seemed to make him uncomfortable.

"Hold out your hand."

Cortona obligingly offered her hand, having no idea where Satya was going with this – until he rapidly starting wrapping her forefinger and middle finger together, then quickly moved on to binding her ring finger and pinky, finishing by wrapping her thumb and the rest of her hand up to her wrist. Her hand was now decidedly three-fingered.

"Don't tell me – wait, you _really_ think this is going to work?"

"You'll have to walk a little differen', but you probably will be walkin' strange when I'm done wit' your feet anyway. You're tall for an elf, you can keep your face hidden, an' we can hide your hair. We jus' go back to my original story of you needin' medical attention, except now you have a hideous skin problem dat is so contagious, we keep you in bandages."

"And I'm a _troll_, apparently! You really think they'll buy this?" Cortona said doubtfully, although she couldn't have come up with a more clever idea herself.

"You're an elf, you tell me. What do you know about troll females ot'er dan dat dey're tall, have t'ree fingers an' two toes, an' walk like dey got a stick up deir ass?"

"Not much, I'll admit that." Cortona conceded.

"Sit down, your feet are gonna be tricky." Satya yanked off Cortona's travel-worn shoe, and inspected the proffered foot. "It's a shame your feet aren't bigger an' you have five toes, dis foot is certainly already ugly enough to pass for a troll foot."

"Well _excuse_ me! I didn't exactly have time to put on my best traveling boots when I was running away from Undercity, these are horrible, thin shoes, and I've been wearing them for three days straight- _oh…_" Cortona sighed as Satya rubbed her aching, sore foot – she hadn't even realized just how awful they felt until he peeled off her sad, muddy shoe.

"Now then, in exchange for de foot rub, and in light of de fact dat we're about to go into Silvermoon…" Satya stripped Cortona's shoe off her other foot, pressing at her aching arches "I tink you owe me an explanation about your family. Every little offhanded mention you've made sounds like trouble, especially if we're going to your parent's house."

Groaning, Cortona fell back, staring at the sky. She didn't even care that Satya could probably see up her robes at this angle.

"My family… Is a disaster, let's just say that. We shouldn't have to worry about going to the house, though, everyone else who can get in there is either dead or in Outland." She peered up at Satya, who looked at her expectantly, foot in hand. "You _really_ want the whole story?"

"If you tink dat your family might be an issue in our coming days of travel, den yes, I want to know what we're dealing wit'."

"I'm not kidding here, it's a really complicated explanation. I may even have to draw family trees, or something."

"Leave out de family trees, and jus' explain."

"Okay, but you asked for it." Cortona sighed.

"Before the Third War, before everything basically went to hell in Silvermoon, my family was very well-respected, and very rich. Well, I mean, we've still got the money, but I'll get to that later. But the DeVasari clan was large and influential, and ran strongly to males and mages. Out of my generation, there was me, my two sisters, and fourteen male cousins; all of them were older than me.

Now, the thing with elf families, particularly rich ones, is that they like to keep the money in the family. Before the Third War, this wasn't such a big concern, since there were lots of other rich families that our grandparents could marry us off to and just make everyone happier and richer. My sisters and I were debutantes, we basically could get whoever we wanted, since marrying into the DeVasari clan was a big deal at the time. I didn't really get into it as much, since I was still in school and pretty young.

But after the Scourge… I think you know some of the story here. My father, grandmother, most of my aunts and uncles, and eleven of my cousins died, and the Third War itself devastated the whole elf population, even the rich folks. My grandfather, who, mind you, is completely senile and crazy, got really paranoid. He was left with six grandchildren – me, my oldest sister Chiara, my older sister Carlina, and then three random cousins who managed to survive – Massimo, Marino, and Mauro. Well, ol' Gramps was getting more and more scared that someone was going to make off with the family fortune, so he did what was a lot more socially accepted in his day – he told all of us grandkids that we were marrying our own cousins.

This… Was an issue. Especially since, by the time Gramps came to this decision, Massimo, Marino, and Mauro had joined up with Kael'thas and the Burning Legion, and we all know how well _that_ went. Carlina didn't see an issue, she was always a horrible idiot, and immediately married Marino and joined up with him in Outland. I was told that I would be allowed to finish my studies before I'd have to marry Mauro. Chiara, as the oldest, was expected to marry Massimo – a warlock, and the oldest male cousin, but she absolutely refused.

See, at this point, Massimo had worked his way up in the ranks of the Burning Legion. This didn't sit so well with Chiara, who not only was a priestess, but was madly in love with this paladin, Arhetto. There was this huge drama that I was thankfully not a part of, but pretty much Massimo would come stomping into Silvermoon about every other day, flanked with demons, demanding that Chiara marry him so that they could inherit the family fortune – which, as the oldest of our generation, they would.

Chiara was patient, but even she, as a priestess, had her limits. One day, she finally cracked, and told him off. She openly spoke out against Kael'thas' actions, condemned anyone who was in the Burning Legion as idiotic weaklings, told Massimo he could kiss her ass, and eloped with Arhetto.

Mind you, my mother was still alive for all of this, and was about as fond of the Burning Legion as Chiara. She managed to convince Gramps to change his will to state that the grandchild who had children first would inherit the fortune instead of the eldest married child. As you can imagine, Carlina – you know, the one who went and joined the Legion – did not take this too well, since she had done what Gramps told her to do, and expected to inherit the money. Carlina, much like Massimo, came storming into Silvermoon, but instead of wandering around yelling about injustices, she went straight up to our mother, slit her throat, and left without a word.

Of course, this gave Massimo the grand idea that this was totally acceptable, and within a couple days of my mother's murder, he came right back and tried to kill Arhetto, so he could reclaim Chiara. However, Chiara was not happy about this, and knocked Arhetto out so she could have a shot at Massimo. They ended up having a full-out fight that lasted nearly a whole day. Chiara was powerful, but Massimo wasn't even trying, since he didn't want to kill her. He summoned an infernal that eventually killed her, and then left.

So this is the situation now: Arhetto is still alive, extremely depressed, and last I heard from him, vaguely wanted to marry me because I look like Chiara. Mauro, the guy I was supposed to marry, has gone Felblood, so he's pretty much out of the picture since no one expects me to have kids with _that_. I've had constant, _attractive,_ offers from various parts of the Burning Legion to get me to join up with them, since the rest of my family has become such valuable assets. That's what that dragonhawk master was referring to; it was pretty obvious back in the day in Silvermoon when I was getting visits from the Legion all the time, and continually denying them.

However, my biggest concern right now is Massimo. He's been tracking me for years, because if he manages to get a hold of me and make me have his child before Carlina and Marino manage to spawn a hellbeast, he reclaims full, legitimate rights to the family fortune. I've been safe, since I've been in Undercity and Northrend for the past few years, but now that I'm back here… I don't know how fast word travels from Azeroth to the backwater, Burning Legion parts of Outland, but eventually he's going to hear that I'm out in the open and on the run, and will come looking for me.

And that's… Basically that." Cortona finished lamely.

Satya had been very quiet throughout this whole soliloquy, and had spent the whole time wrapping Cortona's feet. He gave a couple moments' pause to contemplate the situation.

"You weren' kiddin' about it bein' complicated. But you sound so… Detached when you talk about dis. Like it didn' happen to you. I would expect a lot more anger, especially from you."

"Do I? I mean, sound like… Like I'm talking about someone else?" Cortona thought on that. "I guess it's because it just feels like it was a lifetime ago. I mean, I loved my mother and Chiara, and was inconsolable for about a year after they died, but… Well, I never finished my training. I wanted so badly to go out and kill Carlina and Massimo, but I knew I wasn't strong enough then."

"What stoppin' you now? You're more den powerful enough to do sometin'."

"About Carlina, yeah, I could pretty easily take her out, and believe me, I want to. I have no idea where she is, though, and I'm sure she's not eager to be found."

"And your cousin?"

"Massimo… That's never happening. He's somewhat of a legend in warlock circles; rumor was he answers directly to Kil'Jaeden himself, which I'm assuming is an exaggeration, because otherwise he wouldn't be after the family money. But power-wise… He had to hold back to not kill Chiara. I wouldn't stand a chance, even if he was going for capture rather than kill."

"Why are you so certain? I'm not exaggeratin' or flatterin' you; you're one of de more powerful mages I've ever seen. Unstable, yes. But powerful."

"Maybe I am, but Massimo will always have the edge. Like all the rest of my family, Massimo was initially training to be a mage. He understands arcane magic theory a lot better than I ever did, and can therefore pretty much negate anything I can throw at him; he became a warlock because he thought being a mage was 'boring.' The only reason Chiara lasted as long as she did was _because_ she used a completely different kind of a magic and was a priestess, not in spite of it, like some people thought."

"You know…" Satya rubbed his chin in thought "You already agreed to nightly trainin' while we're together, yes?"

"Yeah, but I thought that was, you know, meditation time. Stabilizing time."

"What if I were to show you some very non-mage ways of channeling fire? I mean, de way you wield fire now is pretty far removed from its arcane roots, since you obviously had mana problems when you try to do it properly."

"I'm willing to try if you think it's a good idea… I mean, you know what happened, er, last time we tried to… Use your… _methods_." Cortona felt her blush creep up to the tips of her ears.

"I'm not tryin' to make you a shaman, you're about as mage as you can get. Jus' because you're a mage doesn't mean you have to summon fire de way an elf mage would, though. We'll deal with my… _Methods_… If dey come up." A predatory smirk grew across Satya's face. "Personally, I wouldn' mind, but if you wish for your dignity to remain intact, probably shouldn' attack me again."

"And you just blew any chance you had for a training session tonight."

"What? Oh, _dat_? Come on, I barely mentioned it."

"Still counts. I'll try your tree-hugger fire methods, but you better wait until tomorrow, _Fessoro_. In the meantime," Cortona stood on her new feet awkwardly, brushing off her robes "we better start heading into Silvermoon if we want to get any decent sleep tonight. Do you have more bandages for my face?"

Satya procured more bandages from his seemingly endless supply, helping Cortona wrap the tips of her ears in an attempt to weigh them down and make them look larger. Cortona pulled her hood over her face, and arranged her clothes.

"Okay, Mr. Judger of Trolls. How do I look?"

"Pretty good righ' now. Do some walkin' toward Silvermoon, and I'll make a better judgement."

"All right…" Cortona tried to emulate the stick-straight posture of a female troll, and flapped her larger-than-usual feet to the sides.

"Nope. More pole in ass, less swingin' hips."

"What!"

"You heard me. More… More…" Cortona pushed her shoulders as far back as the bandages would allow, and lifted her head as high as it would go without dropping her hood and revealing her lack of tusks.

"Gettin' dere. I need less stiff legs, but more stiff back. You still stickin' your ass out, an' not shiftin' your weight enough."

Cortona felt like she was in the dance class from hell, and wearing shoes five times too large. Thankfully, the gates of Silvermoon weren't far away now, but that didn't stop Satya's continuing "More… More…"

_He is __**so**__ going to pay for this…_

**Author's Note: **Sorry about the long time between updates, all of the boring exposition, and getting from point A to point B, but things had to be established, you know? I'm not giving superfluous information here, everything is going to come up at some point. I'm currently writing a thesis, so updates will be nonexistent until my paper goes to get edited (March 1st, eek!).

…And I'm including a fun pronunciation guide for my names! The elves are all Italian names, and Satya's is Hindi. They seemed to work well with the cultures, although I always kind of saw the Blood Elves as the Old South of America – a fallen, preoccupied-with-its-past empire ("The Sin'dorei/South will rise again!").

Satya: SAHT-ya

Dal'Jin: DAHL-jin

DeVasari: Day-vah-SAH-ri

Chiara: Key-AR-ah

Carlina: Car-LI-nah

Cortona: Kor-TOH-nah

Arhetto: Ar-EH-toh

Massimo: MAH-si-moh

Marino: mah-RI-noh

Mauro: MAU-roh


	10. The One Where They Go To Silvermoon

DISCLAIMER: The World of Warcraft, Azeroth, Outland, trolls, elves, Forsaken, etc. do not belong to me, and I make no profit from writing this story. Original characters, however, are my creations, but I couldn't give less of a damn about them being stolen.

LAST TIME:

_Cortona felt like she was in the dance class from hell, and wearing shoes five times too large. Thankfully, the gates of Silvermoon weren't far away now, but that didn't stop Satya's continuing "More… More…"_

_He is __**so**__ going to pay for this…_

**The One Where They Go To Silvermoon**

Thunder clapped outside, and Satya warily glanced at the heavily curtained windows. He and Cortona had managed to arrive safely in A'Tar, the ancient DeVasari home, with only a few strange looks from guards at their awkward appearance. The storm was vicious enough that no one even batted an eye at the magical theatrics Cortona had to perform at A'Tar's front door in order to gain entrance to the ancient, heavily guarded entry.

Whatever Satya had been expecting about Cortona's home, A'Tar wasn't it. Vast and ornate, it felt like a desolate shell of what it once was; nearly all of the contents were covered in large, white, dust-coated tarps. Before they entered, the building had appeared almost blurry, which Satya quickly discovered was due to the fact that it was so completely encased in protective spells and enchantments that had to be taken down one at a time. None of this, however, appeared to phase or dissuade Cortona. In fact, upon entering the mansion, she ripped off her troll disguise, practically pirouetted around the main entrance, and warbled in an off-key voice "Home, home, _finally_ home!"

Cortona insisted upon taking a bath almost as soon as she entered her home, and disappeared up a broad, surprisingly well-polished and clean-looking staircase. Satya wasn't one to question a determined woman, so he awkwardly seated himself in a decidedly elf-sized chair, summoned up flames in a neglected fireplace, and set about sharpening his axe. The storm had had only exacerbated since their arrival, and the constant thunder made it difficult for Satya to keep a proper guard. While Cortona had guaranteed that no one, other than a blood relative, could enter the house uninvited, Satya was still concerned about just _how_ many unstable blood relatives Cortona seemed to have.

Poking at the fire, Satya brooded. None of _his_ family would ever be this much of an issue; trolls were, he decided, far more pragmatic about clan ties. Marriages were arranged for the strength of tribes, and no one tended to be petty about them. Not that this was an issue. For one, Satya was an old troll. Not _ancient_, but certainly old enough to have outlasted all but one of his siblings, most of his cousins, and dodge several engagement attempts due to his powerful rank in the Earthen Ring. The only issues he foresaw came in the form of his multitude of nieces and nephews, scattered among the Darkspear of the Horde and the Zandalar. And, even then, he could never see any of them _killing_ him for an inheritance – sucking up, maybe, but never killing.

"Ohhhhh, I feel _amazing!_" Cortona sighed as she swept down the stairs, an absurdly large bathing robe billowing behind her. Coming to a halt in front of Satya, a smirk spread across Cortona's face. "I'm surprised you're unaffected by the vibes of hate; that was Uncle Giotto's chair. He'd be rolling in his grave if he knew a troll were sitting in his precious seat."

For the first time since they had met, Satya managed to get a good look at a clean, happy Cortona. Her complexion was that of a relatively dark person who had been out of the sun for far too long, and stood in sharp contrast to her brown freckles and auburn hair. Long, lithe arms and legs littered with burns and scars poked out of the overly-frilly bathrobe, proving that Cortona was either a haphazard alchemist or a clumsy person; Satya suspected both. She was by no means beautiful by troll standards – yet something made Cortona_ intriguing _in Satya's eyes. While he enjoyed seeing her smile, for some reason all Satya wanted was to goad and tease her, make her angry with him again so she would get flustered, blush prettily, and say something she regretted. Shaking himself, Satya made an awkward attempt to pry himself from the chair, and was immediately pushed back down.

"Oh, no, no, _please_, continue to muck up and destroy that chair. I _hated_ Uncle Giotto. Creepy old coot." Looking down at Satya with some pity, Cortona wrinkled her nose. "Aw, crap… I'm a terrible hostess, and you can't be very comfortable right now. Come on, let's get you cleaned up, and then you can finally tell me how we're getting wherever we're going."

Hardly able to protest, Satya allowed Cortona to haul him up out of the chair by a demure elf hand, and practically push him up the stairs by her surprisingly strong twig-thin arms. She thrust a towel into his hands, handed him a bar of soap, and then cursed under her breath.

"Hold on, stay here…" Dashing into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her, Cortona scooped up her ludicrously dirty clothes, making sure to thoroughly hide the more indecent garments. A quick check assured that there was nothing embarrassingly feminine left in the bathroom. She opened the door to a bemused-looking Satya, leaning against the doorframe in a somewhat predatory fashion.

"Ya know, I had sisters. Dere's not goin' to be anytin' in dere I haven' seen."

"Actually, I really wouldn't know. You already know basically everything there is to me, but you've been pretty withholding on _you_. For all I know, the second you saw a pair of panties, you would run, screaming, for the hills. Now go, shower, then we'll figure this whole… thing… out." Cortona bustled past Satya to dump her sodden clothes her old bedroom laundry hamper, and probably never wash them.

Dropping her robe, Cortona practically waltzed inside her massive old closet. She hadn't had this sort of clothing selection in years, and, while she had gained weight on her relatively heavy diet in Northrend, the last few years in Undercity had done wonders to her figure, returning her to the size she had been when she still lived with her parents. As she pulled an oversized comfortable shirt over her head, the sound of rattling pipes and cursing caught her long ears. Very much used to dealing with the plumbing issues of an ancient house, Cortona threw the bathroom door open.

"You can't just turn the hot water on full blast, you've got to- GAAAHHH!"

"Elf, do you mind?"

Satya stood in the shower, arms crossed, soaking wet, completely nude, not bothering to cover himself – and, Cortona noted, he had managed to not pull the curtain back, leaving a giant puddle on the floor. For a second she just stared at a particular droplet of water that started tracing the lines of his white tattoos from his broad shoulders, down his pectorals, down his defined stomach muscles, and then down to a line of dark red hair that started at his navel, growing wider, and then abruptly stopping at his- decency reentered her mind, and she squinted her eyes shut, _I did not just see that, I did NOT just see that,_ holding the wall.

…_I totally just saw his junk._

"What are you – for goodness' sake, pull the curtain back! _Normal_ people use that to keep the water in, and so _other_ people don't have to see them _naked_!"

"I wasn' exactly expectin' company, but if you wish to join me, I'd be happy to oblige." Cortona could practically hear his lopsided grin.

"No, I heard you having plumbing difficulties, so I came to help, but you've already messed it up, and now I have to fix it if I don't want the basement flooded." Cortona let out a sigh, clearing her mind. "Look, I'm going to keep my eyes shut, come over there, and fix the faucet. If my hands touch _anything_ other than something attached to this tub, I'm ice-ing it solid."

"If shrinkage is your goal, de freezin' cold water dat came out already took care of dat. I tink you need a better form of revenge."

"Wait, really? That was _shrunk_-" Almost forgetting herself, Cortona barely managed to not peek at Satya for a second look. "No, no, no, beside the point. I'm coming over there, fixing this, and forgetting what I saw."

Groping blindly, Cortona managed to grasp the faucet of the tub with one hand, and the cold-water lever with the other. Bracing her knee against the edge of the shower and twisting the lever with practiced ease, she violently jiggled the entire apparatus in an undignified fashion. After a sort of strained noise emanated from the pipes, hot water began gushing out of the showerhead, thoroughly soaking Cortona – and her white shirt.

"Well, I guess dis makes us even, den." Satya carefully said over the sound of the pouring water.

"Wh-what are you- _GYAAHH_!" Cortona peered down at herself, and saw that the water had rendered any clothing she was wearing completely transparent – revealing that she hadn't bothered putting on underwear yet. Automatically, she covered herself, and her head whipped up to give Satya an accusing glare; fortunately, his crouched stance prevented her from facing anything she was trying desperately to forget.

"_Why_ are you _squatting_ there like some… Weird… Staring… Thing? Were you _trying_ to get a better look up my shirt?"

"Actually, I was goin' to offer my assistance, but den you practically put your ass in my face. I wasn' goin' to say anytin' to embarrass you, and you weren' supposed to look, anyway."

"Oh. Well… Well… Um… Sorry, I suppose. I'll be downstairs, then…"

Cortona practically ran from the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Clothes now soaked, she changed into a dry pair of underwear, shirt, and socks. Incessant, loud banging at the front door rudely interrupted her digging for a decent skirt or pair of pants.

"…Huh?" Cortona muttered as she stumbled down the stairs. She hadn't left a light on outside, and was unable to see who, or what, was standing on her doorstep in the middle of the night, during a thunderstorm. Slowly creeping to the door to peek outside, Cortona pressed a delicate ear to the door, then was immediately startled when the nighttime visitor decided to pound on the door directly next to where her head was. Irritated, she swung the door open, all precaution about her wanted status – and the fact that no one was supposed to be living there – forgotten.

"_What?_" Cortona snapped as soon as the door opened. She was more than a little surprised to see the end of a mace pointed in her direction.

"_Lady Cortona?_"

"_Arhetto?_"

Outside the door of A'Tar stood a male elf roughly the same height as Cortona. Long strands of tangled blonde hair peeked out from an expensive-looking helm, which coordinated with the rest of his extremely ornate, imposing set of armor. Obviously, he had arrived in a hurry, because this was the most disheveled-looking Cortona had ever seen her normally impeccable brother-in-law.

Immediately lowering his mace, and removing his helm, Arhetto looked abashed, dropping to a knee. "My most sincere apologies, Lady Cortona, I unwisely assumed Carlina or Massimo was the one present here, desecrating the manor. Had I known it was you, I never, I _never_ would have…"

"Wait, so if one of them had answered the door, you expected to just take them out with a mace to the face?"

"My heart was so filled with rage and revenge at the mere _thought_ of one of those traitors so brazenly entering this hallowed house, I was unable to concoct a better plan. But my lady… Aren't you supposed to be on the run?" Arhetto looked Cortona up and down, apparently confused by her rather casual – and pants-less – appearance. Cortona nearly giggled at Arhetto's sudden shift from his typical, flowery speech to his utterly baffled-sounding question.

"Not really on the run; I'm due for a meeting with the Earthen Ring. I was framed, things got out of control, and now I'm on my way to Deepholme and avoiding being seen, apparently."

"A journey? Across this whole land and through the very fabric of space?" In a dramatic swoop, Arhetto rose to his feet, seized Cortona around her waist, and crushed her to his chest. "It is too perilous and improper for such a delicate young lady! If you must make this journey, I insist that, in keeping with Lady Chiara's final request, I protect you from all harm."

"I sincerely thank you, Arhetto, but I've already got-"

"_TROLL!_" Arhetto bellowed, dramatically swooping Cortona behind his cape. "Fear not, my lady, I will dispatch this uncouth intruder immediately!"

Peering over Arhetto's shoulder, Cortona locked eyes with a bemused looking Satya, standing in the middle of the hallway with his arms crossed, wearing only a towel that barely covered anything below his waist. "Ex-boyfriend?"

"No, brother-in-law."

"Do I need to do someting about dis?" Satya loosely gestured at Arhetto, who was crouched defensively in front of Cortona, murmuring spells and seals.

"You will address my lady with respect, or I will remove your head, troll!"

Exasperated, Cortona attempted to shove Arhetto to the side, which proved to be quite difficult with him wearing such large and heavy armor. "Arhetto, shut up. Satya, for goodness' sake, put some clothes on."

"You address this… Thing… With familiarity?" Arhetto obviously wanted to call Satya something far worse than "thing," but Cortona's presence kept his tongue civil.

"Yes, I do. Arhetto, this is Satya Dal'Jin of the Earthen Ring; he's my escort. Satya, this is Arhetto Giacomo, my ex-brother-in-law." Cortona stated flatly.

"In truth, I shall always be her brother-in-law, for my love of my lady's sister is undying and true!"

"Oh yeah? Then why do you propose to me every time we run into each other?"

"My lady, it would grieve me to betray your sister's spirit so cruelly, but I know it would devastate her eternal soul if cursed Massimo managed to get you with child to fulfill the terms of the will! We must produce a child, for the sake of your clan and for the sake of all Sin'Dorei!" Dropping to his knee once again in front of Cortona, Arhetto grasped Cortona's hand within his own with a flourish. "My lady… You have grown beautiful and strong like your sister before you, but you must remember who you are. It is your duty… Nay, your _destiny_ to carry on the DeVasari line! And, in keeping with my fair bride's final wishes, it is I who must take and protect you-"

Cortona tried to release her hand from Arhetto's surprisingly firm grip. "I _sincerely_ doubt that Chiara's last words were 'Okay, Arhetto, you can go bonk my sister now.' I have no interest in carrying on _any_ family line at the moment, especially with _you!_ "

On "you," Cortona managed to retrieve her hand, which she held in front of Arhetto's face in a rather threatening fist. Satya noticed that the puddles of water around Arhetto were starting to boil, and the candles burning next to the front door had practically turned into torches as Cortona's anger manifested itself through fire magic. Clearly, she had been holding a lot of this back for a while.

"I'm a third child, a smallest cousin, and a youngest sister. I'm used to hand-me-downs and people babying me. But that _doesn't_ mean that I'm some _helpless_ damsel in distress who is so _desperate_ for protection that she'll _take her sister's sloppy seconds and be called by someone else's name in bed for the rest of her married life_!" The air around Cortona was swirling, cracking with heat and magic, and flames were looping around her fist; Arhetto looked stunned and terrified. She seemed to notice this, and quickly stopped her pyrotechnic show, taking several deep breaths. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get some sleep before my day tomorrow. We can deal with family stuff when the world isn't ending."

"But, my lady-"

"Does this have anything to do with me getting to Deepholme?"

"Well-"

"Then it can wait. Dal'Jin and I travel light and fast, which I know is not your style." Cortona critically eyed Arhetto's massive, bulky plate armor and weapons.

"My lady, surely you cannot rebuff my offer-"

"I can and I will. If you don't want me to ban you from this house for the rest of your life, you'll listen to me. If you go telling anyone I'm here, or that you saw me, I will _personally_ contact Massimo and tell him that I am ready to be ravished and knocked up."

With that, Cortona slammed the door in a shocked-looking Arhetto's face. She turned to face the tightly crossed arms of an irritated and still shirtless Satya. Growling, Cortona glared up at him.

"_What?_"

"Dat was quite a performance, even for you. Do you tink he'll actually tell anyone?"

"Who, Arhetto? Not with that ultimatum; that guy wouldn't recognize an empty threat if it danced naked in front of him." Scowling, Cortona assessed Satya's own nearly-nude form. "Which, by the way, I've got to ask – were you _trying_ to provoke him? I mean, was _this_ absolutely necessary?" Cortona gestured at Satya's scantily clad body.

"It doesn't take much to get an elf riled up, an' I enjoy doin' it. Jus' a bit of revenge for de way dey treat trolls like bloodt'irsty perverts."

"Well _that_ seems to be a bit of a self-perpetuating stereotype, doesn't it?"

"Nah, you all are just wound up too tigh'." Satya sat on one of the covered sofas, which immediately groaned under his weight. He rummaged through his bag, extracting a large map. "Now den, let's discuss our itinerary."

"Um… Would you mind putting some clothes on first?" Cortona asked uncomfortably, trying not to look where his towel had failed to cover the area between his legs.

"If you insis'." Satya replied with a sigh, pulling pants out of his bag. "You're de one who gave me an elf-sized towel…" he muttered.

Cortona looked skyward as she heard him drop his towel; she had seen _far_ too much nearly-naked and completely-naked troll for one day. Hearing the couch once again creak under the massive troll's weight, Cortona chanced a look down, noting that, while Satya had donned pants, he remained stubbornly shirtless. Realizing that she couldn't win all of her battles, Cortona seated herself next to Satya, trying to concentrate on the complicated map rather than the muscled body next to her.

"I wasn't kidding when I said geography wasn't my best subject. You're going to have to walk me through this." Cortona mumbled, chewing the skin on the back of her finger in puzzlement.

"Dis is where we are now, yes?" A large blue finger pointed at the dot for Silvermoon City at the very top of the long map of the Eastern Kingdoms. "Dis is where we are going." Satya's finger traced a jagged path through the Ghostlands, Plaguelands, between Alterac and the Hinterlands, through Hillsbrad and the Arathi Highlands, and then-

"Wait, we're going to _Menethil Harbor?_ Are you _crazy?_"

"If you're plannin' on screamin' in my ear like dat for de whole trip, I'm gonna have to knock you out and carry you de whole way. But yes, we are goin' to see Lady Proudmoore in Menet'il. She has been a valuable friend of T'rall and de Eart'en Ring for quite some time, and agreed to safely, and discreetly, transport us to Deepholme."

"But… But… _I _can't go in there! And you _really _can't go in there! We might be able to pass me off as a really tall human, but there's no way we're going to be able to get you in there without getting shot down on sight!"

"Do you honestly tink I planned on stormin' de city like a fel orc?" Satya responded with a level of indignity Cortona had not previously heard. "Remember, I'm Eart'en Ring, not strictly Horde; I can go in an' out of Alliance cities as I please. Gettin' _you_ in dere is goin' to be de tricky part."

"Oh." Cortona responded lamely, still dumbfounded. "But-"

Satya pressed a finger to Cortona's mouth, silencing her protest. "No, no more questions tonigh'. You need sleep, because I plan on leavin' before dawn. If we get out as dey change de guard, no one will look at us twice. I wan' to get at least as far as de Ghostlands border before sundown."

"Well… Um, would you like me to show you to a bed?" Cortona stood up, gesturing toward the stairs.

"I'll stay here." Satya gestured toward the fire. "You get to be my age, an' you don' need as much sleep."

"Er… Good night, then, I suppose." Cortona began climbing the stairs back up to her room, not expecting a response.

"Good night, Cortona."

Now Cortona didn't want to admit it, but hearing Satya say her name sent a shiver up her spine, and made her freeze. Perhaps it was the way her name rolled off his tongue, or how his deep voice growled a bit on the "r" – but Cortona knew it was most likely because she was struck with a memory of the last time she heard him say her name.

_ "Now den, Cortona… I don' know what gets you dere, so if you like someting…_

_ Scream for me."_

Feeling a warm tremble up and down her body, Cortona practically sprinted up the rest of the stairs to her bedroom, trying to forget ghosts of sensations and muscled bodies covered in white tattoos.

It was going to be a long night.

(A/N – Normally, I'd end the chapter there, but you know what? I made you all wait so long, I'm going to keep going a little bit longer. Longer note at the end!)

It was so early, it was late.

Cortona had spent the majority of the night packing for the journey; Satya hadn't given her an approximation for how long the journey would take, so she packed for just about everything, which involved a lot of spells and shrinking her possessions. As a result of her efforts, Cortona had managed to fall asleep not in the middle of her large, comfortable bed, but headfirst in a dusty trunk in her closet. And it was there that Satya found her, finally fed up with waiting for her to emerge from her room.

He was packed and ready to go, and, judging by the air of magic in the room, it appeared that Cortona spent most of her night doing the same. Looking out the window, Satya saw that the sky had gone from pitch-black to the slate gray of predawn. If he woke her, she would probably insist upon bathing, redressing, packing more, and all sorts of other unnecessary preparations. Giving her an experimental nudge, Cortona didn't even react – she was apparently a heavy sleeper. He would have to take matters into his own hands.

Sighing, Satya gently lifted Cortona, slinging her over his back. What she wanted to take was fairly obvious – a small bag, a cloak, and an elaborate staff sat in a neat pile next to the door. Shouldering the bag, storing the staff alongside his axes, and covering Cortona with the cloak, Satya carefully walked down the stairs, and out of A'Tar. The door of the manor closed behind him with an air of finality. All of the enchantments Cortona painstakingly disabled the previous day re-erected themselves, and the building once again looked blurry behind a powerful wall of magic.

The streets of Silvermoon were deserted at this hour; the morning mist was thick, and the light given by the streetlamps didn't carry very far. Satya walked toward the city gates with an air of confidence, even going so far as to give one of the guards a companionable eyeroll, gesturing to indicate that Cortona had a bit too much to drink. The guard smirked, waving Satya through.

Setting a brisk pace, Satya considered the elf over his shoulder. While she was by no means a heavy burden, he feared that she would wake not only in a foul mood due to her predicament, but probably with a terrible headache from the way she was draped over his back. Neither outcome was good, and, presumably, each scenario would end with her shrilly screaming in his ear. Deciding that he would rather delay the inevitable, Satya re-adjusted his grip and continued loping south.

Well after the sun had cracked the horizon, Cortona realized that something was amiss. Not quite asleep, nor fully awake, she tried to figure out what was wrong. She wasn't in her bed, that was for sure – her arms and legs were completely numb, and hanging below her torso for some reason. Her stomach and chest were pressed against very uncomfortable lumps of what felt like leather, chain mail, and bone armor.

As her mind slowly pieced all of this together, she realized that she was being carried like a passed-out drunk girl. This, however, was not her major concern. The fixation of Cortona's sleep-addled mind was the three-fingered hand splayed across her ass.

"Satya…" Cortona's voice was groggy; evidently she wouldn't be screeching at him anytime soon.

"Yeah?"

"…Why are you grabbing my ass?"

"Because dat's how you carry an unwilling elf?" Satya stopped, and slowly deposited Cortona on the ground. She rubbed her eyes blearily, looking around.

"W-where are we?" Cortona yawned.

"A few miles east of the Farstrider Retreat. It's almost noon, you were sleepin' pretty hard."

"It's been a rough last couple of nights…" Stretching, Cortona felt her ears turn hot. Had it really only been that long? Was it really just the night before last when she and Satya – no, now wasn't the time to think about that.

Removing Cortona's staff and bag from his shoulder, Satya stretched and stood up completely straight, reminding Cortona of just how much bigger than her he was. He watched her as she rummaged through her bag, shouldered it, and then stored her staff safely on her back. Squinting, as though trying to remember something difficult, Cortona concentrated hard until a pair of crullers appeared in her hand.

"Mana-laced pastry?" Cortona offered Satya.

"If you can eat and walk."

"Mmoph." Cortona had shoved the majority of the pastry in her mouth, and set off at a brisk pace – one that Satya had difficulty trying to match, since he had to slow down considerably to stay in stride with Cortona's shorter legs.

Trees and plant life grew more stressed and dead-looking as they journeyed further south. They had long ago left the main road; Satya's reasoning was if they stuck close to the mountains bordering Zul'Aman, they were less likely to run into anyone who would be out for Cotona's bounty.

What Satya had not anticipated, however, was just how much the Amani trolls still hated elves.

**Author's Note: **I am SO SORRY about just how long this took me to update! In these last few months, I published my thesis, got my master's degree, went on twelve interviews, and finally landed a job. Fortunately, I'm not going to start until August, so I should be able to make some headway on this fic. I plan to have Balancing Fire finished in six or seven chapters, all of which will be far more action-packed than these last few of "getting from point A to point B."

To those of you who kept reviewing during my absence – THANK YOU! Please keep it up; it helps me keep writing to know that people want to keep reading!


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